Finding Opa! by Latrivia S. Nelson

embraced her body and aroused her to her soul.
     
    ***
     
    Hunter kept looking at his watch as he sat in his office reading over Mrs. Clementine’s file. Why did it seem that today of all days, the time wanted to inch by? Frustrated, he took the pen from the pocket of his smock and wrote something down then closed the manila folder and pushed it away from him.
     
    “Something the matter?” his sister asked, coming into the office behind him.
     
    Hunter looked up and straightened in his seat. “No. I just have something to do tonight.”
     
    “ Something to do ?” she asked curiously. “Does it involve a woman?”
     
    Hunter smiled and stuck the pen behind his ear. “Yes, as a matter of fact, it does.” The thought of Stacey made him smile.
     
    “Well, I’ll be damned. Who is she? Someone I know?” Hanna asked, grabbing a seat.
     
    “You could say that. She’s a patient.”
     
    Hanna was suddenly quiet as ethical issues crossed her mind. “Did you see her?”
     
    “No. Well, I almost did, but then I referred her to you. Stacey Bryant. She came in the other day as a new patient.”
     
    Hanna frowned. It was surely not who she thought it was. “The black woman?” she asked.
     
    “Yes, the black woman ,” Hunter said, shaking his head. Leave it to her to make that an issue. He had not gone on a date or seen a woman in two years, and the only thing that she could focus on was the color of her skin.
     
    “I didn’t mean it that way. You’ve just never dated anyone who wasn’t Greek,” she said defensively.
     
    Hanna could instantly feel his resistance to her statement. She countered with a fake smile, trying to cover her hesitation. Maybe this was simply his way of moving back into the dating scene. Having known him all of her life, she recognized the frown lines in his perfectly tanned skin and tried to retract her statement. After all that he had gone through, the last thing that she wanted to do was discourage him.
     
    Hunter could not deny his sister a pardon. “Stacey and I have a mutual understanding. She lost her husband a few years ago, too. We just both need someone right now. I can’t expect you to understand completely. You’ve got Jack. But I’m getting older and even lonelier. Some part of me needs this.” His voice was solemn.
     
    Hanna and Hunter were two years apart in age with Hunter being the oldest. The two had a very close relationship. They had gone to college together, defied their parents together and so much more. Out of the four children of their family, the two were the closest. In fact, she had mourned for Corina nearly as hard as her brother.
     
    After all, they had all three been friends. It was because of their connection that she had always been so protective over him. Maybe too protective.
     
    “Well, if she’s what you need right now, I fully support you,” she lied. “Let’s just keep this from Mom and Dad.”
     
    Hunter rolled his eyes. “You know, I never realized that we were prejudice until right now.” His finger pointed down on the table.
     
    One of the nurses walked past their door and politely closed it shut. Evidently, their conversation was floating into the rest of the clinic, which could potentially be b ad for business. Both of them looked over at the door and moaned.
     
    “We’re not prejudice, Hunter. Dad is just pro-Greek,” Hanna explained, wishing that she had never broached the subject. It was not her business anyway.
     
    “Right,” Hunter said, standing up. “I’ve got work to do. Just do me a favor, will you? Let me decide what is best for me. I know how you are and how you like to interject your own opinions in my life. In the past, some of the time, it was helpful. But I doubt with this particular situation that you could offer any useful insight.”
     
    Opening the door, he looked over at her one last time and made a motion over his lips like he was zipping them.
     
    ***
     
    Valerie was absolutely ecstatic.