“He needs to sit down somewhere,” Jazzlyn laughed it off while leading me toward the other side of the rooftop. I was feeling nice, but I knew the conversation she was fixing to have was gonna sober me up real quick.
“Baby, you need to talk to your sisters.”
I scoffed. “They ain’t give a fuck ‘bout him no way. I’m the one who was running ‘round the city after him trying to get him better. They up and left soon as Mama died.”
“I understand that, Ahk, but you can’t possibly think you can get through this alone. You buried your mother with them by your side, and it was still hard as fuck. You can’t bury your father without them. That would kill you.”
She had a fucking point. We were a family unit and held each other up throughout the entire process. It was a few months after my mother was laid to rest when Khadijah left for Atlanta. Then a few months after that, Niema left for L.A. The grief hit us all differently. While I decided to face the storm, they ran in the opposite direction.
Her gentle hands cupped around my face as she peered into my eyes. I knew to her, my eyes were glossy because I was taking the bottle of Casamigos to the head, but in reality, a nigga was holding back tears. I was happy my parents were finally back together, but damn… where did that leave me? I wanted so badly for my pops to get right. Although I gave him shit about it, I really thought him moving to Louisiana would force him to be better so he could eventually come back and meet Saphir. I always told my son how fucking cool my pops was, and I even took after him when it came to parenting. I wanted Saphir to get to experience the good side of Kareem for himself. Now it would never fucking happen.
Without me even saying, my wife knew I needed a hug. She pulled me into her arms and held me tight. “I’m sorry you had to find out on your birthday. We will get through this just like we get through everything else.”
“Shit starting to feel like we taking loss after loss. First our baby, now my pops. I can’t believe this shit, yo.”
“I know. Nothing I say can make you feel better right now. I just need you to surround yourself with family so you can have the strength to see this through. Okay?”
“I got you, Lovey. I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“Get fucking faced at the bar and look a damn fool,” she teased.
I chuckled. “You lucky I ain’t fuck the set up with my mean-ass moonwalk.”
“That would have been a sign to shut this whole party down.”
“Jazzy, that surprise, it’s ready for you.” Britain approached us with a giddy smile on her face.
I bumped my brows together. “What’s ready?”
“Shit, I almost forgot,” Jazzlyn sighed as we parted from the embrace we were in. “I have a surprise for you.”
I peeped Britain as she handed Jazzlyn the mic. She tapped it, catching everyone’s attention before cutting into the music. “If everybody could please make their way down to the ground floor, I have a surprise for my man.”
Everybody hyped the surprise up, building up the anticipation. We made our way to the factory-like elevator, and because of the number of people who were in attendance, it had to take three trips. Jazzlyn purposely made sure we were on the last trip. “Lovey, I said no more gifts.”
She smirked. “You deserve it.”
Once the elevator door lifted and we navigated out of the building, we were met with our family and friends crowding the block. They all had their phones out recording, ready to catch my reaction.
“Yo, what did you do?” I chuckled while shaking my head.
She took my hand and led me through the crowd. Once we got through, I could see a matte dark brown Tesla Cybertruck parked at the curb with a bow on it. My mouth dropped. How she managed to get this without me knowing was beyond me!
“Surprise, baby!”
“Yo! This shit fire, son!” I exclaimed, still in shock.
She laughed, enjoying every bit of my reaction. I wanted to jump up and down like a kid, but I knew if I got to doing too much, I would barf up everything I fucking ate because of the liquor I had been throwing back. I rushed over to my wife and quickly lifted her from the ground. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” I repeatedly kissed her lips.
She giggled as I spun her around. “I know you were debating on getting it, so of course, I shut you down so I could get it for you,” she recalled the conversation we had a few months back.
Money wasn’t an issue with us, but I never wanted to get to a point where I no longer understood the value of a dollar, so I spent my money as wisely as I could. When it came to big purchases, I always consulted with my wife first. I went to her about the Cybertruck, and she shut me down, claiming it was too flashy and looked like one of Saphir’s building blocks he played with. I canned the thought and never entertained it again. Little did I know, she was fucking planning on surprising me with it.
“See, this what the fuck happen when two bosses get together! That’s the shit I like to see!” Mirsad clapped.
He was absolutely right. My wife was a boss with her own paper. She could make moves like this without any stress. She really was one of one.
Jazzy encouraged me to look inside the whip. She handed me the key card, and I opened the door. Right in the driver’s seat were two velvet boxes that were marked with the logo of our jeweler in the city. I looked back at her, and she shot me an encouraging nod.
