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“We went to school together.”
“High school sweethearts?” Candi asked, fully invested.
Cutting his eye at her, Jay asked, “You gonna let me talk?”
“Okay, carry on.” She shooed him along.
“Anyway. We started dating when I was twenty-one and she was eighteen. I proposed to her a few years later, not knowing she was already married. The girl had been married since she was eighteen. Anyway, she dumped my ass and now she’s happily married with a baby.” Jay gave Candi the short version.
“You loved her?”
He nodded.
There was no way she could compete with the likes of Luna. Not only was she stunningly beautiful but she was also successful and the world loved her. Candi had read the Essence article on their whole little family. It was one of the reasons she found herself in Sapphire City. The way they talked about where they were from, you’d think it was Wakanda.
“You miss her?”
“No,” he didn’t hesitate to say. “I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t fucked up about the break up because I’m a real ass nigga and will keep shit real at all times. I was down bad after my split from her. But it’s been a year and I’ve healed and learned nothing I did or said would’ve changed the outcome of that situation. She wasn’t made for me.”
“Do you think she loved you?” Candi was just being nosey at this point.
He thought the question over. Did Luna have love for him, he believed so, but there was no way to truly know and he wasn’t trying to go back down that road.
Candi saw the conflict on his face. “If she came back, would you give her another chance?”
“Nah.”
“Why, if you loved her as you say? I ain’t never been in love, but I know if I did love someone, I would give them a second chance.”
“To do what, break your heart? If someone breaks you like she almost broke me, they ain’t love you like that. The second chance would be for you hoping they fall the second time around.” Jay pulled up to his estate and looked at her. “The further I get away from the situation, I realize maybe I ain’t love her like I thought.”
“How do you know?” Candi was desperate for lessons on love.
Jay was drunk in her dark skin and natural beauty. Her hair was still a mess and he thought she was even sexier. Still dressed in his clothes, Candi seemed at ease. When she smiled, it met her eyes and her questions seemed to be her way of getting closer to his heart.
“I know because my heart ain’t never danced before.”
The apples of her cheeks pushed up, tightening her slanted almond eyes. Her smile was big, bright, and perfect. Candi wanted to squeal in glee but composed herself. When Jay turned to punch in the code to his private gate, she finally looked around.
From the outside of the gate, there wasn’t much to see. Not even a neighbor. What she thought would be an old and tiny home, she was quickly learning that Jayshun was more than she’d initially thought him to be. Based on the electric security gate that seemed to touch the sky, Candi knew Jay’s pockets had to be deep.
As he pulled behind the big privacy gate, her mouth formed an O. “This your Bama ass house?” Candi asked in shock. The stars shined in the night sky but the property’s lights lit up everything.
The grounds were beautiful. Lush greenery like she’d only ever seen in a magazine stretched for what seemed like miles. The house wasn’t a fancy or bourgeois mansion. It was a timeless, plantation-style house. It had been painted black—the black house was etched over the columns on the wrap-around front porch.
Pebbles crunched under the tires as she rolled her window down to smell Alabama. Deeply, she inhaled, filling her lungs with air that smelled like the hope of the slave. Candi sucked in the herb-smelling air a few more times. Each time, a piece of her old self chipped away, revealing something new.
“Damn, you gon’ get high, ain’t it?” Jay laughed at his inside joke, unbeknownst to her.
“This is so nice,” she complimented, pushing her door open. Shoeless, her toes dug into the ground beneath her. The driveway made of rocks was hot but compared to how cold the car ride had been, she welcomed it. Candi had never set foot in the state, and already, she didn’t want to leave.
Easing his fingers between hers, Jay pulled her toward the front door. “You ain't even seen the inside yet.”
After another digital keypad, they were inside the lemon-scented foyer. Spinning around like she was in a museum, Candi took it all in. It was spacious and had the charm of tradition while boasting all the beauty of modern amenities and décor. The floors creaked under her, drawing her eyes to the walnut floors that shined more than the floor at his loft. It was clear Jay had a thing for old homes with updated features.
“Luna did her thing with the decorations,” Candi complimented, running her hand over the green, textured wallpaper over the walls in the hall as she followed her direction to check out the house.
Jay laughed, seeing she wanted to ask a question but didn’t know how. “She ain't never been here.”
