Chapter 9 Asante
ASANTE
Ipaused and my eyebrows knitted together when Kate rushed from behind the bar and skidded to a stop in front of me. I looked down at her and she forced a smile over her face.
“Don’t get mad, okay?”
“What’s up, Kate?” I skipped her comment altogether.
“You have a visitor in your office,” she said quickly. “And it’s not Bishop,” she added.
That statement confused me because I wasn’t sure I’d ever had anyone visit me at the club outside of Bishop or it being work related.
“You didn’t get a name before you let her in there?”
“She didn’t exactly give me a chance to ask her anything. She just sort of barged in and headed for your office and I couldn’t exactly just toss her out.”
“So it’s a woman?”
“Yeah. She’s tall and beautiful and was holding a baby.”
I scoffed and shook my head.
“Thanks, Kate. It’s my sister.”
“I didn’t know you had a sister.”
“She’s not around often but I’ll take care of it.”
“Okay. If you need anything else, let me know.”
“Alright.” I gave her a small smile and she moved back toward the bar while I headed to the back, walking as fast as possible.
I pushed the door open hard and my eyes flew over her and my niece.
“What’s wrong?” I circled my desk to get a better look at her but Nadira just looked confused.
“What?” She lifted an eyebrow. “Why would something be wrong?”
“Why would you show up at the bar without calling if nothing is wrong?” I asked genuinely.
“Well that’s called a surprise.” She flipped her daughter around to look at me.
“Oh.”
I exhaled while the panic inside of me started to subside.
Hearing that Nadira had popped up on me without letting me know had immediately made me think that either she was running from something or something was wrong with our parents.
I was glad neither of those was the truth and I reminded myself that I didn’t always need to jump to the worst possibility.
I smiled and reached down. I jiggled baby girl’s side till she giggled.
“I’m happy to see y’all,” I said.
“We’re happy to see you too.”
Nadira climbed up and I gave her a one armed hug so I didn’t crush the baby.
“I came here to see you and take you to lunch or something but it seems like I should have come to give you an intervention.”
“What?”
She gestured to my desk and I looked down at all the papers I had thrown across it. I didn’t need to look too close to know what it was. It was my vendor receipts, invoices I’d gotten and the full finances of the club all laid out in one spot.
I lifted an eyebrow while I regarded her.
“You digging through my stuff now?” I reached for my niece and Nadira handed her over immediately.
“I didn’t dig. It was all out on your desk.”
“And that made you have to lean in and read it?”
“Not necessarily.”
“So you were snooping?”
“Of course I was,” she said matter-of-factly.
I laughed without being able to stop myself. I couldn’t even force myself to be mad for real. Had I wanted to bother Nadira? No. But now that she knew what was up I would love for her to give me some advice.
“And what do you think?” I shifted my niece to the opposite side and she tucked her head in my neck.
“I think that you should have come to me if you needed help.”
“Yeah, well I didn’t and we’re here now so what’s up?”
“I think the club can be saved but it’s going to take some more money to make money.”
“Of course it is.” I scoffed.
“How much do you want to throw into this?”
“I don’t even know,” I admitted.
I wasn’t broke. I still had money stored in savings and a few stocks and shit, but ultimately the budged I’d set out for the club was tapped and I wasn’t sure I wanted to commit to pouring more of my cash into a failing business.
I was ten grand from selling the building for what I could get and tapping out.
I didn’t consider that me failing or folding. I considered it me being a smart business man and knowing when it was time to let shit go. That was the problem with people that gambled. They didn’t know when to fold and give up.
I wasn’t one of those men.
“What do you recommend?”
“Well better branding would probably help.”
“Right.” I looked over at my sister with her business and marketing degree. “And let me guess, you know someone who can help me out with that for a discounted price?”
“Of course. Me.” She smiled and shimmied in place. “What do you think?”
“I think I’ll accept your opinion if you want me to have it.”
“Good. We can talk about it over lunch. Let’s go.” She plucked up her purse and diaper bag.
We went to a cute little American joint and sat right by the entrance. We got my niece some fries and settled in with our own food.
Nadira had never been shy with her opinion or feelings so when she immediately started talking about how she thought things should be handled and offered me several different ways I could draw a crowd in, I just sat in front of her and took it in.
She suggested women getting in cheaper, deals on drinks and me personally reaching out to a few famous people to come in with the offer of free liquor and a section.
She told me that I needed to get some kind of social media presence and we created the club a page so people could keep up with it if they deserved to.
I made a list of people I could reach out for promotional purposes. I even briefly thought about asking Bishop if he knew any of them and could get them to come through, but decided against it.
After we finished discussing my failing business, we got into non-work related stuff.
Nadira was still being wonder woman and had decided that she wanted to run a half marathon so she was beginning to train for it.
Things with her and her husband were good.
My niece had become a menace in the house but that was to expected.
Despite the fact that I didn’t speak to them frequently Nadira updated me on how good our parents were.
They were prepping for retirement and apparently had plans to get a camper and do some stateside traveling together.
“So how are things with you and Bishop?” she asked as she scrubbed at some ketchup on her daughter’s face.
I could tell it was a loaded question even with her acting like it was a random offhanded question. My head automatically tilted slightly to the side while I tried to get a read on her.
“We’re good.”
I kept it short and Nadira noticed.
She dropped her used wipe on the table and looked at me.
“How long until his wedding?”
“Less than a year now.”
“And how are you feeling about it?”
“The way you’d assume. Not great.”
“So had the disconnecting started?”
I shrugged and grabbed my cup to take a slow sip. Nadira raised an eyebrow. I ignored her.
“Asante,” she said my name softly. “Please tell me that you understand you have to disconnect.”
“I don’t have to do shit.”
“He’s getting married.”
“Out of obligation.”
“Do you genuinely think that distinction matters?”
“It does to me.”
“So, what? You’re going to waste your youth being some man’s dirty little secret?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yeah. It fuc?” She paused as she caught herself and cleared her throat. “It matters, Asante.”
“Becuase you say it does?”
“Because you deserve better,” she countered.
I took another drink from my cup and looked off. I knew that she was partially right. In theory I deserved better but in practice, I honestly didn’t give a fuck. I wanted Bishop more than I’d wanted anything in my entire life.
Did I think we could survive his marriage long term? Probably not but I wasn’t ready to let him go and give up just yet.
We had another year before his wedding and we’d go from there.
Nadira reached over and set a hand on mine. I slipped it away. She exhaled.
“I like Bishop,” she said after a moment. “I like Bishop and I think he’s sweet and smart and an amazing man, but I also love you and I know that whatever the two of you have planned isn’t going to be sustainable long term.”
“And I’m going to ride the wave until it crashes.” I looked at my watch. “I’ve got to get back to the club.”
“That’s a cop out,” she accused.
“Not really because I don’t owe you an explanation or have to explain myself to you.
” I took my wallet out and pulled some cash out.
“I love you but ultimately your opinion is just that, yours. It don’t change shit over here, Nadira.
” I tossed the cash on the table. Then, I exhaled and looked over at my niece as she reached for something else on the table.
I slowly let my eyes trail back to Nadira.
“I love you and I know you want the best for me, but this is what I want right now and when I feel like I can’t hold on anymore, I’ll let go but I ain’t there yet.
” I reached toward my niece and tussled her short hair before hopping to my feet.
I rounded the table and kissed the side of Nadira’s head.
“Thank you for looking out for me though.”
“Asante,” she called after me and I paused. “I’ll send you some promo stuff for the club.”
“Appreciate it.” I gave her a small smile.
“And Asante.”
I exhaled. “Yeah, Nadira?”
“Take care of yourself.”