Distant+Whispers

Chapter 12
MIKELL STAKED HIMSELF OUT IN TONI’S LIVING room; pulling out his sketches and arranging them on
Toni’s glass coffee table. He paid special attention to his favorites, the one he did of her at Winyah
Bay and the one he had started the night before of the woman selling baskets. When he ran out of room
on the coffee table he spread them out on the loveseat to his left and even put a few on the blue shag
rug that covered the wooden floor.
Toni set up her kingdom in the kitchen. She promised that she wouldn’t peek until he was ready.
He heard her rattling around in the kitchen, straining not to peek himself. Even in jeans and an
oversize South Carolina State t-shirt and her brown hands covered in flour, Mikell could not take his
eyes off of her.
Toni also found reasons to enter the living room. She would pop out of the kitchen with a
tablespoon full of one thing or the other that she wanted Mikell to try. She thrust the spoon into his
mouth and smiled at his moans and licking of lips as he savored each sampling. When she tried to
peek at his sketches, he held his arms up blocking her view.
“No! We made a bargain. I eat and then you can look.”
Toni lost track of time. She wanted to finish cooking by two o’clock. They would have an hour or
so to chat and eat. Plenty of time before Jordan came home. But time had disappeared into a constant,
wonderful now!
The blaring horn of the yellow school bus by the side of the road yanked them both from the
clouds. Mikell stared calmly through the window at the visibly irritated heavyset black male driving
the bus. He turned around and met Toni’s worried eyes. She was standing in the doorway to the
kitchen, biting her lips, her hands coated in white flour.
“Do…do you want to bring it over…maybe later?” Mikell asked. “It’s not a problem.” He began
to pick up the sketches arrayed around the room.
Toni took a deep breath and shook her head.
“No! No, Mikell! It’s okay. I…I want you to meet him.” He turned towards her. She smiled.
“Really,” she whispered. “I do. But I do have to ask one thing. You can leave all of your sketches
where they are, except those two on the love seat. Jordan likes to sit there. He won’t sit anywhere
else.” She avoided Mikell’s eyes, hoping that she wouldn’t have to explain.
“Are you sure about this, Toni?” Mikell asked, trying to read her eyes. “It’s not a problem. And I
really enjoyed our conver—”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Uh uhh! It’s okay. It’s okay,” she whispered. She
reached for a towel and wiped her hands. “I’ll be right back.” She avoided his eyes as she went to the
front door.