She smelled good, too. It was a fresh scent, like fresh laundry, but I knew it was perfume. It brought out her natural scent and all the other scents she had on, so anytime she walked by, it was like she was electrocuting my nose all over again.
Gina had me gone. I was open from the moment I saw her in the bar, and the more time I spent with her, the more she had me wrapped around her finger. I couldn’t imagine anybody not wanting to be around her, let alone her parents. Why Gina felt like she was so lonely in this world was unfathomable to me because I would do anything to have her next to me for the rest of my life.
I grabbed her hand and hooked her arm with mine as we walked hand-in-hand up to my parents. Lacy and her dude got out of the car around the same time as we did, so it was the four of us walking up together.
The place was packed out, as it normally would be. My parents alone always drew a crowd, and when you added Lacy’s parents to that, they brought the whole city out. Some of the most important people in the city were there tonight, getting ready to open their wallets and become donors to the new Ponya Medical. The way they’d been raising funds left and right from the time they even conceived the idea was insane. I had no idea why my parents even needed another loan from Lacy’s parents. They should have had everything they needed, but they still wanted to meddle in our lives and use us as leverage.
Luckily, by the time we found our parents, the four of them were already alone in my dad’s study. I could tell by the way they stopped talking when we walked in that we had been the topic of the conversation. That was perfect because it was time for it to be the last time they ever put mine and Lacy’s names in the same sentence with marriage ever again.
“You see? I told you it wouldn’t been long before your disobedient child rubbed off on my daughter.” Lacy’s uptight ass father spoke first, as he usually did. He was the type who actually believed his daughter did not do wrong, even when the wrong was staring him right in the face. Lacy was standing right next to me, holding another man’s hand, and somehow, I was the one corrupting her.
“What is going on, son?” my pops asked.
“We came to get you to understand there will be no wedding. Seeing us together with the people we love should further show you this is not a game.”
“You don’t make the decisions. We do, and if I say you’re going to marry my daughter, then that is exactly what you will do. Do you understand me?”
My father was silent for a while as he looked between Lacy’s pops and me. Seeing my dad at a loss for words was rare because not only was he a master of medicine, he was also a master of being able to spin any conversation in his favor. My father looked at me, then at Gina and how close we stood before he spoke.
“Watch your mouth when you speak to my boy. My son is a grown man, and if he has found a woman he loves, there is nothing else to discuss.”
“If you pull the plug on this marriage, you may as well pull the plug on Ponya Medical and tell everyone here tonight to go home.”
“Then that is what I will do, but first, you get the hell out of my house right now.”
Chapter
Twenty-One
Gina
I could hear the commotion outside of Ramel’s house before I even fully opened my eyes. I already knew exactly what was going on. It was the sound of paparazzi finding out wherever my parents were at the moment and swarming in to shove cameras in their faces. The bangs on the door were barely loud enough to be heard over all the other noise.
“What the fuck?” Ramel asked, confused about what was happening.
“It’s my parents. I apologize in advance for whatever this is.”
“You don’t have to apologize for shit. Hold up.”
Ramel moved me out of the way as he grabbed some shorts and a shirt to slip into and threw me something to put on. We hadn’t even gotten a chance to brush our teeth before we were rushing to the door to see what was going on. Glancing down at my phone only pissed me off more because I had a thousand missed calls, and it wasn’t even 6 a.m.
“What are you doing here?” was the first thing I asked when the door swung open, and I was met with the parents I’d just left behind for good.
“Can we at least come in?” My mother spoke first.
Ramel stepped to the side to let my parents in the house and locked the door behind them. My mother invited herself to a seat because she walked directly over and took up space on his sofa. My daddy wasn’t too far behind her.
“Well?” I asked again since neither of them had given me an answer. “I thought you were sick?”
“Did you think a little sickness would keep me away from my baby girl when I found out you were working in some diner and living with strangers? I spoke to your so-called boss. She told me you’d been staying with her.”
“I had to move out of the hotel. I left all my credit cards at home. I don’t want to have anything to do with your money anymore.” I didn’t try to avoid eye contact with my parents. I wanted them to understand I meant everything I was saying, but the shame I was feeling about Ramel finding out I’d been staying with Ms. Nadine kept my eyes glued to the ground.
“Regina, baby, come home.”
My daddy was also the voice of reason, but his charms wouldn’t work this time around. I was done waiting for them to see me. I was on my way to building a life I could call my own, and that was nothing to be ashamed of.
“Daddy, I am home. The people of this town have welcomed me with open arms. I have never felt more at home in my life.”
