AllFreeNovel
Share Us
At least, I thought he was until he announced, “Your ol’ man is finally coming home.”
“Coming home?” I repeated. “You’re all done with your program?”
“Sure am,” he answered proudly. “Officially discharged as of ten minutes ago.”
The news had me so excited that I popped up from where I’d been seated on the bed to squeal, “Congratulations! But also, why didn’t you tell me?! I would’ve been there to pick you up, or brought you some flowers, orsomethin’.”
“Nah, you’ve already done plenty. Way more than I ever deserved, and I truly can’t thank you enough for that.”
The way his tone grew thick with emotion made it hard for me not to get emotional too when I sat back down and sang, “Aww, Daddyyy.”
“Aight, aight. Enough of that sappy shit,” he chuckled before asking, “Where’s your guy at?”
After peeking up to confirm that Kendall was still in the room -and that he was still upright- I answered, “He’s right here.”
“Put him on the phone for me, will you?”
“You’re already on speaker, Daddy,” I told him, my father responding with a groaned,“Aw shit,”before changing his tone to say, “Ayo, Snoop. What’s good, man?”
From across the room, Kendall yelled, “Hey, how’s it going, Stew?”
“Ah, you know. It’s going,” my father answered on some cool shit as usual. “But, ay.I just wanted to tell you uh… I really appreciate you looking out for my daughter the way you do, man.”
When I looked up at Kendall, I could tell he was just as caught off guard by the random statement of gratitude as I was. And while I immediately began to wonder where the sentimental energy was coming from, Kendall seemed to know exactly what it was about as he moved a little closer to the phone to respond, “Always.”
“Must be some man-to-man shit,”I decided as my father asked, “Now when are y’all gonna have some kids or somethin’? I’ma need somethin’ to do now that I can’t do what I used to do.”
The mention of children made it hard for me not to tense up, though I tried my best to play it off with a giggled, “I’m sure we’ll be able to find you something, Daddy.” And before he could say anything more about it, I was quick to rush him off the phone with, “But hey, we have a wedding to get to, so I’ll talk to you later, okay? Love you. Bye.”
Once I ended the call, Kendall chuckled, “Damn, Shakira. Why you in such a hurry?”
“Cause Houston traffic is unpredictable as hell, and I don’t want Briyana to fight me over you being late,” I told him, Kendall nodding to say,“Good point”before thankfully picking up the pace a little bit. But once he was fully dressed, I found myself right back in a trance, the way his navy, groomsmen suit was hugging his muscular frame in all the right places literally making me have to force myself to leave his bedroom so that we wouldn’t end up being a no-show.
The wedding was worth it, though, the ceremony bringing me to tears while also making me badly want some custom Air Maxes like the ones the entire bridal party had on. And the reception was a party like none other, lowkey making me jealous that I couldn’t partake since everyone drinking from the open bar seemed to be havingbigfun.
Well… everybody except for Anastasia who was spending too much time glaring at a particular wide receiver and his date to actually enjoy herself. And only because I knew she wasn’t trying to get caught did I attempt to let her know how obvious she was being when I told her, “Damn, Ana. You are clockin’ thehelloutta ol’ boy and his plus one.”
“And you aresuspiciouslyturning down a lot of free champagne,” Anastasia responded from her seat with a tight grin that had me grinning right back as I defended, “I’m not drinking out of solidarity with your brother who swore off alcohol for the rest of his life after last night. What’s your alibi?”
Shrugging, Anastasia answered, “I like his date’s dress.”
“So much that you have to stare at her in it all night?”
“It’s a showstopper,” Anastasia argued, earning herself a stiff side-eye that made it hard for her not to laugh as she conceded, “Alright, alright.You’re right. I’m trippin’. Even though his facewasbetween my thighs earlier this morning…”
“Oh wow,” I interrupted. “That iswaymore than I needed to know.”
“Girl, bye,” Anastasia groaned. “All the times I’ve had to listen to you and my brother smash, and now you wanna act prudish?”
Instead of answering her question with words, I simply nodded as if to say,“Touché.”And it was almost like he’d heard us talking about him the way Kendall strolled back over to our table at that exact moment to ask me, “You good, Shake?”
“Yeah, I’m great. You?”
“Man, I can’t even lie. I’m ready to go home,” Kendall groaned, the way he was so obviously still worn out from last night lowkey making me feel bad for him. And since it wasn’t like we hadn’t already been here for a good amount of time, I was happy to get us out of there and get Kendall home.
Or…notget Kendall home, since he’d decided now was a good time to be doing side missions according to the strange route he was taking to his neighborhood. But it all made sense when,instead of taking us to his home, he pulled into the driveway of one that was located a few blocks away from his, the “For Sale” sign in the lawn making it less weird when Kendall suggested we get out to look at it and then asked, “So… what do you think?”
The style and elegance of it honestly reminded me of his mother’s home, which I absolutely loved.
