“I have to go now. Can I have your cellphone number please, Juliet?”

Then “Are you married?” she blurted out, before she could stop herself.

“I’ll forget you even asked me that.” She could see a flicker of anger in his eyes.

She called her number out to him and he logged it into his Blackberry.

He put his arms around her and kissed her on the lips again. When she slipped her hands beneath his shirt, he let out a soft moan.

She knew then that he wanted her just as much as she desired him. Her body flushed at the thought.

Finally Mahamba let her go. He looked longingly at her and mouthed, “I need to get out of here, babe. I’ll call you.”

He crossed the dance floor in an easy stride. Juliet never took her eyes off him until he disappeared out of the door.

Michael Jackson’s lyrics were booming out of the speakers.

Maybe you and I can’t do great things

We may not change the world in one day

But we still can change some things today…

In our small way.

* * * * *

It was Monday night. Mahamba had phoned Juliet on her cell at work and they had arranged to meet at The Crazy Zebra for a drink.

“He’s as handsome as I remembered,” Juliet thought, as she spotted him standing at the bar.

As he saw her approaching, his whole face lit up with a smile. He stood up to greet her as she drew nearer to him. She had misremembered how tall he was. He had a thick head of stylishly groomed hair and a hint of ‘five o’ clock shadow’ on his jaw.

He laid one hand in the small of her back, pulling out the spare stool next to him with the other hand.

“Hi Juliet,” he gave her a huge grin.

“Hello Mahamba,” she said, making herself comfortable on the stool.

“What would you like to drink?” He touched her hand lightly. She almost gasped at the feel of his touch on her bare skin.

“I’ll have a glass of the house white wine, please.” She was glad that her voice sounded normal.

When their drinks arrived he said, “Let’s go and sit at one of the tables. That way we’ll be more private.”

He smiled across the table at her. Then he slowly raised his glass and clinked hers with his. She grinned and said, “Cheers.”

For a while they sat sipping their drinks, all the time looking at each other. The electricity between them was very real.

“You never told me what you do, Juliet? Where do you work? I want to know every tiny little detail about you.”

“Well as it so happens I started a new job today,” she smiled. Then she told Mahamba how she had a Marketing degree and had been doing some temporary work up to now.

“But my passion is flowers,” she said, and her whole face lit up. “I hope to own my own florist one day.”

He looked startled by her words – looking at her as if she had suddenly grown two heads. He opened his mouth to say something and then just as quickly closed it.

“I think you know the florist. It’s called Mama Pinky’s.”

“Why do you think I know the place?” he said slowly.

“Well, to be honest I saw you dashing out of there in anger last week. In fact it was the day I went for my interview.”

“I don’t remember seeing you.” His face grew serious.

“I doubt very much if you saw anybody. You barrelled out of the shop like a tornado.”

“I can’t believe that you are working in that florist.” His eyes burnt into hers. “Can’t you find another job?”

“What is wrong with me working in that florist? Is my job not good enough for you?”

“I just don’t like the idea of you working there, that’s all.”

“Do you mean working with Mama Pinky or are you prejudiced about me working in any flower shop?” Juliet asked crossly.

“There’s no need for you to get on your high horse, Juliet. I just wish you worked some place else.”

“I have dreamed of being a florist all my life. That was the reason I studied Marketing – so I could learn how a business operates.”

“It’s just that my mother owns the shop. You’re working for my mother.” Now he started to laugh.

“Yeah, right! And I’m the cat’s mother,” Juliet said with a sarcastic chuckle. “Pull the other leg.”

Slowly he nodded his head. “It’s true.”

“So you are the son who is giving his mother a lot of grief?” Juliet said, and then wished she could have taken her words back.

“Did she say what we were fighting about?” he said, his eyes flashing darkly. “What has my mother been saying about me? She hardly knows you.”

A vein throbbed in his forehead. She knew he had a temper. She had experienced it in full flow that day at the florist. She couldn’t decide if she liked the idea or not.

“No.” Juliet shook her head from side to side several times. “And I didn’t ask. I know what it’s like to fall out with family, Mahamba. My so-called father walked out on his family a year ago. He’s a teacher – well he was a headmaster. He had an affair with one of his student teachers, and was suspended. As soon as he lost his job she left him. He tore his family apart – and for what?”

“I’m very sorry to hear that,” Mahamba said, and gazed into her eyes. “I know how a person carries the hurt inside oneself. Sometimes you feel you’re going to explode.”

“I can’t seem to get past the anger,” Juliet confessed. “I can’t bear to see him or even speak to him on the phone. He was always preaching to us about family, how we should stick together.”

“It’s really complicated between me and my mother right now.” He looked sad for a moment.

Mahamba then bent his head towards her across the table. The scent of his aftershave assailed her nose.

“Let’s leave families out of our first date,” Mahamba said. “Let’s try and get to know each other first. Then we can discuss the family dramas.”

“I agree.” Juliet took a sip of her drink.

“Juliet,” he said seriously, and took hold of her arm as they later got up to leave. “I don’t think you should tell my mother that we are seeing each other.”

“Are we seeing each other?” she asked softly.

* * *

Tell us what you think: Why would Mahamba ask Juliet not to tell his mother that she knows him?