6
E lion smoothed the edges of the sculpture he was working on. He’d been inspired after his date with Olani and hated to say it, but Clara may have been right. Going out and getting his mind off of things helped get his creative juices flowing.
His date had gone well. Elion couldn’t remember the last time one had been that fun with the traditional dinner and conversation.
He hadn’t wanted to seem too eager for a second date, so he’d waited a couple of days before requesting another one through the app.
He requested another Wednesday evening; that way, he still didn’t have to deal with Clara.
He wasn’t ready to let her know she’d been correct.
He also hadn’t received a response yet, but he’d only sent the request yesterday. So, he still had time for her to accept or decline if she wanted to do that.
Elion turned the sculpture, looking at all sides.
He was close to having it the way he wanted.
Though he knew it would take him a couple more hours of smoothing before he could give it a finishing polish.
He wasn’t sure if it would be a part of the collection for his next showing or a stand-alone piece that he would sell.
Either way, he was glad he was over his mental block.
Deciding to take a break from sculpting, Elion went to his bedroom. He figured he’d go for a swim. Clara would be back from one of her study groups that met on Saturday mornings in about half an hour, and as their Saturday afternoon tradition, they always had lunch together.
Once changed, Elion went to the pool, diving headfirst to ward off the cold water’s initial shock. Surfacing, he wiped a hand over his face, getting rid of the excess water, before turning on his back and doing the backstroke from one end of the pool to the other.
Time got away from Elion as he swam, and by the time he got out of the swimming pool, he was sure Clara was home. After drying himself and running the towel briefly over his hair, he draped a towel over his shoulder.
Elion returned to his bedroom and continued to his en suite. He started the shower, and as he waited for it to heat up, he placed his towel on the floor beside his hamper before taking off his swim trunks and placing them onto the towel.
Stepping into the shower, Elion allowed the water to run over him for a moment before he began to wash the chlorine from his body. He then washed his hair a couple of times before rewashing himself.
Once he’d rid his body and hair of chlorine, Elion stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel to dry himself off before wrapping it around his waist. He went back into his bedroom and over to his dresser, pulling out a pair of boxers and a gray V-neck tee shirt before laying them on the bed and entering his closet.
He grabbed a pair of dark jeans and placed them with the rest of the clothes.
After pulling on his boxers, Elion moisturized before getting dressed. He exited his bedroom and went to the kitchen, where he found Clara placing different ingredients on the island.
“Hey, how was your study group?” Elion questioned, looking over the things she’d laid out. It seemed that she wanted to make grilled chicken pitas for lunch.
“Hey, Uncle Elion. It was much better. The guy I was telling you about last time didn’t join us. So, it was much more productive.”
“That’s good,” Elion responded, going over and washing his hands.
“I’m hoping he’ll continue to be absent from it. We don’t like to tell anyone they can’t join the group because it’s all about helping one another, but he makes it hard for everyone to focus and get things done.”
“Sometimes, you have to think of what’s best for the whole. So, if you all banding together and asking him not to return is best for the group, it may need to be done,” Elion informed her, drying his hands off.
As they made lunch, Clara fretted over her finals coming up next month and a paper she had to write as one of them.
Elion listened, giving appropriate responses, but he knew his niece well enough to know that she was her own worst critic.
She’d worry and push herself when she would ultimately do fantastic in the end.
However, Elion would never say that to her because it would seem as if he was invalidating her worries and making light of the situation when he knew that her education was essential to her.
After making lunch, they grabbed their plates and a drink and entered the living room. Once seated, Elion handed Clara the remote and allowed her to choose what they would watch since he’d chosen the last time.
She chose a comedy special, and as they watched it, Elion came to the conclusion that either he was just too old to find the comedian funny or his niece, being of her generation, didn’t require much to make her laugh.
Once they finished their lunch, they finished the special before the two of them returned to the kitchen and cleaned it together.
When they were finished, Clara headed to her apartment over the garage, and Elion returned to his workshop.
His creative juices seemed to be still flowing, and he wanted to finish the sculpture he’d been working on.
He decided to smooth it over one more time before polishing and varnishing it. He’d chosen marble to work with because he wanted the sculpture to look sleek, almost prim, but without losing the element’s natural inspiration.
A couple of hours later, when he’d finished, Elion looked it over. The varnish would take a bit to set, but he was pleased with the outcome.
O lani took the glass of wine that Xola was offering her.
They were seated in her cousin’s living room after having dinner together.
She’d been sitting on a request for another date with Elion, and she hadn’t yet accepted it.
She’d been waiting until after her date that was scheduled for that Saturday evening.
However, after waiting almost an hour for them to show up, Olani decided she’d been stood up.
So, she and Xola, who’d been present on each of her dates watching from a safe distance, left.
Olani told her she would pick up some takeout and meet at Xola’s house.
While they’d been eating, Olani received a communication from the site.
It was Raymond, the man she was supposed to meet that evening, informing her that he’d been called into emergency surgery and didn’t have time to let her know ahead of time. He apologized and asked to reschedule.
When she sent her survey to him, she knew he was a surgeon, and the possibility of him having to conduct emergency surgery wasn’t a slim one.
Olani decided to reschedule with him, but she wouldn’t give him two options like the last time.
She would give him a time, date, and place, and it would be up to him to make it work.
If he couldn’t and work required him again, she would understand that, and they could focus their energies on other people.
Olani had also gone ahead and accepted the second date with Elion. She wouldn’t make him wait an entire week just because someone else couldn’t keep their date with her. Olani confirmed for the upcoming Wednesday, and true to his word, Elion suggested taking her to a pottery class.
“So we didn’t discuss your dinner date Wednesday,” Xola responded. “But it looked like you were having fun.”
Olani took a sip from her glass. “I was. He didn’t immediately try to get me to ditch dinner and have sex in his car, and he asked questions about my work as if it was one of the most interesting things he’d ever heard of.” She paused for a moment. “And it didn’t feel like forced interest.”
“That’s always a good sign. Elion’s an artist, right?”
“He is. His focus is sculpting, but I get the feeling if he wanted to, he could do anything else artistic.”
“How old is he?” Xola questioned after taking a drink from her glass.
“He’s thirty-four, no children, but he has two nieces and a nephew.”
“So, he’s only a few years older than you are. A couple of years older than me, so he isn’t one looking for some young arm candy,” Xola responded with a decisive nod.
Olani laughed at that. Elion hadn’t been looking for anything at all, considering he wasn’t the one who filled out his survey and simply hadn’t seen a reason not to go on the date once it was confirmed. However, she was glad his date with her changed his mind.
“We’re going on another date on Wednesday. He wants to take me to a pottery class.”
“Pottery sounds fun. What studio and what time? I’ll be sure to be there.” Xola responded.
Olani shook her head. “We’ll be in public again, and he said something about renting one of their private rooms so he could teach me. So, you won’t be able to see us.”
“That doesn’t matter. As long as I can see you come out of the room, get in your car, and head home, I’m all good,” Xola told her. “Besides, you were the one that said I could come to make sure you were safe. I’m extending that past the first date.”
“Fine,” Olani conceded, taking another drink from her glass. “I’ll text you the place and time.”
“So, if your date with the doctor goes well, you’ll have two men who are looking for the same thing you are.”
Olani nodded. While she’d received more surveys and looked them over, none of them had stood out to her the way the four she’d responded to had.
Though the first two hadn’t been what she’d thought they would.
However, she put aside a few surveys that were similar to the one that Xola had seemed interested in.
Olani didn’t know whether her cousin would take her up on filling out her own survey, but she would definitely have some options if she did.
“I’m in desperate need of a manicure,” Xola spoke, looking at her free hand. “You want to come with me?”
“Sure, when do you want to go?”
“We can go tomorrow. Make a day of it. Get mani-pedis, and have brunch. Too bad Kynlee isn’t back. We could invite her to come with us.”
Olani agreed. “Yeah, she’s been gone for a few weeks, but when she travels for work, I’m sure it always feels like a vacation. What about Sura? Is she free tomorrow?”
“No, she’s at a conference. So, it’s just the two of us tomorrow,” Xola took a drink from her glass. “We can go early for the mani-pedis and then catch a brunch special.”
“Sounds good to me,” Olani responded. “I’m staying here tonight. That way, we can Uber since I’m sure we’ll have more than one or two at brunch.”
“That’s fine.”
Olani rose from her seat, finishing her wine. She took her glass into the kitchen and washed it before placing it in the drying rack.
“I’m going to shower, and then we can watch a movie,” Olani said as she made her way down the hall. She stayed with her cousin enough that she had a few clothing items there.
Walking into the guest bedroom, she grabbed a pair of panties, a T-shirt, and shorts before taking them with her into the hall bathroom.
After showering and dressing, she entered Xola’s bedroom, grabbed moisturizer off her vanity, and used it. She could hear the shower running in her cousin’s bathroom, so she knew the other woman was in there.
Once she was done moisturizing, she returned to the living room, got comfortable, and began to look through movies for them to watch. Knowing that as long as it didn’t have to do with a haunting, her cousin wouldn’t mind.