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He chuckled. “I’m not perfect, Kenya, but maybe I’m perfect for you. I feel like you’re perfect for me. Our chemistry is so strong, and there isn’t an ounce of hesitancy when we’re near one another. That’s that grown woman shit. I love that.”
I assumed he’d been dealing with indecisive women. “Am I the only woman you’ve dated that was older than you?”
“You mean a woman that was damn near forty years old?”
I rolled my eyes and chuckled. “You make me sick!”
“Well, I mean, that’s how you normally say it. But yeah. I feel like a year or two doesn’t count, but I would say seven years does. So you’re my first and my last.”
I felt like my breath got caught in my throat. The shit he said always had the same effect on me. He was so confident in us. It was refreshing, honestly. “Are you saying that if we don’t work out, you’ll never date an older woman?” I asked to fuck with him.
“Don’t play with me, Kenya. I can hear the smile in your voice. You it for me, baby,” he said tenderly.
That shit nearly yanked the tears from me. “Damn, Nate. You say some of the most beautiful shit.”
He chuckled. “I’m sure about us. I’ve never been so sure about anyone.”
“I’m sure about us too.”
“Baby, I have to take a call. It’s my agent. I’ll text you when I’m free, in case you’re still at your mother’s house.”
“Okay, Nate. Talk to you later.”
He was right. He was going to be it for me. His confidence was definitely infectious. I was smiling while stuck in traffic. That shit had to count for something.
“How long ago did heleave, Ma?”
“About thirty minutes ago. He went to his car and just sat there, like he was trying to wait for you to get here. What’s going on with him? He seemed a little nervous.”
“I have no idea. When I was his, he hardly ever wanted to spend time with me. He always had somewhere to go that I couldn’t accompany him to. He found every reason he could to be away from me. Now that someone else has my attention, there’s a problem.”
“Yeah. You and Nate are trending. I just want you to know that the two of you look amazing together. That picture of you kissing him while standing in that chair looked so passionate. To say y’all have only been a couple for a week, there’s more passion between the two of you that some people don’t ever see in a relationship. It’s beautiful, and it reminds me of how your father and I were when we met in college.”
My dad had been deceased for thirty-five years, and my mother still held a sadness inside of her. She wasn’t able to get closure, because he committed suicide. While he’d left us four years prior to that, she knew it was his illness causing those erratic behaviors. She tried her best to get him help, but because of the musical genius he was, the music industry used him, ignoring the torment that had surfaced from the inside. As long as he was still producing quality music, they didn’t care.
It made my dad feel like there was nothing wrong with him, since my mother was the only one saying anything about it. They argued all the time. I just wished I would have had more time with him, because I had no memories to call my own. Taryn didn’t remember him either, because when he left, he never came back to even see us. She has fleeting memories of moments with him, but none of what he was like as a father.
I gently rubbed my mama’s back as she gave me a tight smile. Sitting next to her, I pulled her in my arms. She kissed my cheek and said, “I’m okay, baby. I’m just happy for you. This seems like the real deal, even though you got you a youngin.”
I chuckled. Before I could respond, there was a loud knock at the door. I already knew that Arik had come back. I immediately called the police, letting them know of my restraining order and how I needed to add my mother’s address to it. He wasn’t in violation of it if I wasn’t here without her address being listed.
They assured me that they would be here momentarily. Arik continued to bang on the door, but what caused me to stand was when he said, “Kenya! I have information for you about your father! Please come to the door!”
My mama stood next to me. “Did he say what I think he said?”
“Yes, ma’am. I still don’t want to open the door.”
Instead, I went to the door and asked, “What kind of information?”
“The industry owes y’all a ton of money. They’ve been keeping royalties from his music and only sending y’all pennies. I have a friend who is fascinated with your father’s career, and he’s been researching him for years. He uncovered so much… even about the night he died.”
I looked at my mother, both of our eyes wide. “I called the police, Arik. So you need to leave. Meet me at Lulu Belle’s tomorrow morning, if you can, at eight.”
“Okay. See you then. Please unblock my number.”
As I glanced out of the window, I could see him running to his car. He peeled out, and I turned to my mama. “We have to call Taryn. Are you going to come with me in the morning to meet with him?”
“Absolutely. I thought our attorney had done a good job, getting us what was rightfully ours. The woman he was with when he committed suicide wasn’t his wife. Legally, I was still his wife. I refused to even file for divorce, because I knew he wasn’t in his right mind. He refused to take his meds because he said it stifled his creativity somewhat. I didn’t see or hear a difference. The only thing I noticed was that it was causing him to gain weight.”
