“Fire,” one young lady said. “On the fifth floor.”
“That’s my floor,” I told my father.
One of the office assistants came barreling out of the building and ran straight to me. “Professor Cole, your office is on fire. I tried to get Julia to come out, but she’s still gathering some of your things.”
My stomach tightened as dread took over. My gut told me this fire had everything to do with Dory. Exchanging a glance with my father, I noted the worry in his eyes. “Call Jace.” Then, I took off toward the building.
Blake
“I so needed this.”
I glanced at Paityn, who was floating next to me. Our short weekend trip had morphed into a week-long vacation. I’d enjoyed my time with my mother and my sisters—shopping, eating, talking…my kind of escape. “Me too,” I said.
“I’m thinking we should go with tacos tonight,” Bliss suggested.
Today, we’d decided to chill at Paityn’s new beach house, since Bishop was out of town on business. And I couldn’t wait to eat more of Paityn’s food. I missed her culinary skills. “Sounds good to me,” I agreed.
Staring up at the blue sky, I tried to concentrate on the moment, the quality time with my favorite women. But my mind wandered to Lennox; italwayswandered to him. At the mall, at the Salsa Club, during dinner, while I was sleeping… Apparently, I was incapable ofnotthinking of him. Despite what I’d told myself, I missed him so much. I hated myself for leaving the way I had, but instead of fixing it by talking to him and assuring him I was fine, I’d continued to act like an asshole. We’d talked a few times, but it was never enough. And that was my fault, because I’d let my fear make the choice for me to leave.
“I fucked up, Tyn,” I whispered.
Paityn glanced over at me. “I was wondering when you were going to talk about it.”
“Really?”
“Girl, please. I know you love me, but planning an impromptu trip to see me is not the Blake I know.”
“I’m spontaneous,” I argued.
“But you’re not a planner.”
Dallas walked over to the edge of the pool and sat down, swinging her feet in the water. “Are we talking about this now?”
“Yes,” Paityn replied.
“Mom!” Dallas shouted.
Bliss set Naija into the travel swing we’d brought along on the trip. “It’s about time.”
“What’s going on?” my mother asked, stepping onto the patio.
“We’re talking about it,” Dallas waved her over. “Come on.”
Soon, my mother was seated next to Dallas and Bliss, and all eyes were on me. A moment passed. Sighing, I blurted out, “I fell in love.” All of them clapped, and I cracked up. “Wow!”
Paityn gripped my hand. “That’s good. See, it wasn’t that bad to say it out loud.”
“Actually, it was.”
“Sissy, it’s okay to love him. I fell in love, and it’s amazing.”
“Of course it is. You’re you,” I told Paityn. “You live for this stuff—cooking for your man, giving massages, telling him how much he means to you. That’s you all day.”
Paityn laughed. “You’re crazy.”
“Baby, somehow you got it fucked up,” Mom said.
I laughed. “Mom! When did you start using slangandcussing?” My mother had made a lot of money over the years in that Cussing Jar. Every time we’d said a curse word, we had to drop money in the jar. The amounts had grown as we’d aged and by the time we were in high school, we’d been stuffing dollars in that jar. Needless to say, she’d purchased a lot of clothes and handbags with that money. “And the term is gotmefucked up.”
