Slow Down by Goldberg Lee Matthew

Author:Goldberg, Lee Matthew [Goldberg, Lee Matthew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Suspense
ISBN: 9781643961026
Amazon: 1643961020
Goodreads: 53460386
Publisher: All Due Respect
Published: 2015-01-20T08:00:00+00:00

I didn’t have time to go home before meeting Isadora. Billie’s was on 22nd between Fifth and Sixth Avenue, a few blocks from where we had been shooting. I would’ve literally had to pass Billie’s to get the 1 train to fly uptown, simply just to change from sneakers to shoes. So I stopped at a Kenneth Cole, bought a button-down blue shirt that matched my eyes (something I’d worn on dates in the past, which always seemed to ensure a hook-up), some gray corduroy trousers, and nice black shoes. I tossed out my old wardrobe in the garbage and stopped into a Sephora to bathe in some cologne.

I didn’t know exactly what I was expecting with Isadora. From what I’d seen, she was pretty much as bipolar as Dominick, but I found myself wanting her even more than Nevie right now.

Upon entering Billie’s, I was greeted by an old school jazz decor that was unfortunately eclipsed by a blaring R & B soundtrack that made it seem like a gay disco. A black hostess swished to the beat and brought me to a table alone. Isadora was late, probably on purpose to make me wait, make me want her more. I looked around at the dim lights and red velvet curtains, the black marbled floors bathed in a golden glow. I thought of Billie Holliday, the restaurant’s namesake, shooting up at a table beside me, but a trio of Jersey girls with big hair and loud conversations sat there instead. A waiter came by and I made a request.

“Do you have any jazz?”

“You don’t like the music?” the waiter cried, flamboyant as ever with a lavender scarf for a headdress.

“It’s not that.” I ran my fingers across the table like it was a piano. “The lady I’m entertaining. She likes jazz.”

I stopped playing the imaginary piano and slid a twenty from my wallet. The waiter kept bopping his head to the music.

“What kind?” the waiter asked, snatching the twenty and slipping it down his shirt as if he was a showgirl.

“I’ll give you another twenty if you have Thelonious Monk.”

“Honey, you give me another twenty, I’ll go home and get you your Monk,” the waiter said. “Give me ten minutes. I live right on the block.”

“Thank you.”

I didn’t know what kind of game I was playing by requesting Dominick’s favorite musician. But when I imagined him seducing Isadora to the same beats, I was certain I could do it better.

It took Isadora another twenty minutes before she showed up. I was dipping bread in pesto oil when she walked in with a dark red skirt wrapping around her legs, her toenails matching the color of the skirt. I rose as we met, gently clasping her hand and planting a kiss on each cheek. I tasted her perfume, sweet like the beach, and we fell into our chairs.

“I hope I haven’t kept you too long, Noah.”

“No, not at all.”

The waiter finally returned and replaced the club beats with Monk, the music bouncy and jaunty, like if a saxophone and a piano were having a dream together.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.