Chapter 12 October
October
“Okay, tell me three things that make your day complete each day.”
“Besides loving my beautiful baby?”
“That’s a given. So, yes, besides loving Auburn.”
“Hmm . . .” She tapped her chin thoughtfully, and the sparkle that lit her eyes made me want to give her all the things she was thinking about. “I love walking every day. It’s my time of meditation and being alone with God so that He can fill me up once I’ve been depleted.”
“Morning or evening?”
“Morning. I also enjoy walking to Brew ‘N’ Sip a couple of blocks over every afternoon. I get an iced coffee, and it refuels me when I’m starting to become tired and boosts my creativity.”
“I love their iced chocolate chip latte,” I shared.
“Yeah, those are good. But their vanilla caramel frappes are my favorite. You should really try their pumpkin spice lattes,” she suggested.
“Maybe we can get one together tomorrow afternoon. I’ve got the day off, and I don’t mind walking with you.”
“I like that very much.”
“Third thing,” I reminded her as I twirled my glass noodles around my chopsticks. We were having a date night at Cozy Fusions, a popular fusion restaurant that specialized in healthy meals.
“Oh yeah.” She held up her finger as she slowly chewed a piece of broccoli and then swallowed it. “Third thing is that I get up every morning to watch the sunrise, and I sit on my balcony in the evenings to watch the sunset.”
“Every morning and evening?”
“Every morning and most evenings when you don’t have me tied up doing something else,” she remarked with an enticing gleam in her eyes.
“Baby, I ain’t tied you up yet,” I replied.
“Listen to you. Let me find out you’re into kink.”
“I ain’t said all that. I’ll tie you up, but I’m not getting tied up.”
There was something about serving time in jail that caused me to have a strong aversion to being bound. If that was something that she was into, I wouldn’t mind tying her up, but there was no way in hell I was gonna be tied, handcuffed, or subjected to any form of restraints.
“Tell me three things that I don’t already know about you,” Autumn stated.
It was almost as if she had read my mind.
There were a few things that I had never shared with her, but they weren’t easy stories to tell, and I was uncertain how she would react when she found out.
People automatically judged me without knowing the entire story when they found out.
I didn’t want to lose this girl, so I knew that I would eventually need to tell her.
I just wasn’t ready yet. Not tonight anyway.
I wasn’t trying to fuck up a perfect date night.
“Uhm, . . . let’s see. I don’t like crowds. I pray every morning and night. And I’m into the great philosophers.”
“Wow. I wouldn’t have ever guessed that. Which philosopher is your favorite?”
“I can’t really say that I have a favorite. They all have views that bring enlightenment and harmony into life. You can take something from all of them.”
“Well, whose views most align with yours?”
“Honestly, all of them. Socrates gets deep, though, and you have to be in the right mental space to read him.”
“How did you get into it?”
“In my early twenties, I just decided that I wanted to learn more about myself. I wanted to look beyond the scope of my small world and get deeper into life and the meaning of it all so that I could determine the type of man I wanted to be. I wanted to make sure that whatever impact I left on others was meaningful.”
“That was very insightful of you. Most young people are focused on partying and living their best lives.”
I was ready to change the subject because it was getting too deep. We needed to have the conversation, but not right here. “How’s your Mongolian beef?”
“It’s wonderful. The beef is tender, the sauce is sweet and tangy, and the vegetables are sauteed to perfection. They’ve still got just enough crisp to them without being too crunchy, and they aren’t wilted. You want a bite?”
“Sure.”
She picked some up using her chopsticks and leaned toward me. I opened my mouth and let her feed me. It was delicious. I chewed slowly, licking my lips as I kept eye contact with her. Autumn watched me and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth slowly.
“Stop that.”
“What?” I asked.
“Seducing me.”
“Am I?”
“We said we were going to have this date night to spend more time building our bond and not focusing on sex.”
“Ain’t nobody said nothing ’bout sex,” I replied, spearing a piece of chicken from my plate and forking it into my mouth. Again, I chewed slowly and groaned my satisfaction.
“October,” she whimpered.
I laughed. “Damn, a man can’t enjoy his meal because ya ass is horny. How is that my fault?”
“You know what you’re doing,” she replied, teasing me as she pulled another piece of broccoli into her mouth and sucked the stem.
“Okay, you win. Tell me about your greatest love affair.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Besides this one?”
“Good answer, ma.”
She chuckled. “I would have to say Jason Carroll in the second grade. He used to practice writing my name in cursive. He bought me a matching candy bracelet and necklace for Christmas, a candygram for Valentine’s Day, and he beat up Preston Wright, who always used to bully me.
On the last day of school, he told me that he would never forget me and that he would always love me. ”
“Damn. A li’l nigga was getting deep to be eight, wasn’t he?”
“I think he was sweet.”
“How come you not rocking that li’l nigga’s ring and name?” I asked with a chuckle.
“He moved away. He knew that he was leaving, and that’s why he was telling me goodbye on the last day of school.”
“Let me find out that li’l nigga lurking somewhere trying to find you.”
“Well, he did look me up on social media a few years ago. He was married with kids, but he just wanted to check to see how my life turned out.”
“That’s wild,” I replied, shaking my head. “Do I need to give ya ass a candy bracelet and necklace? I don’t have a candygram, but I can buy you a bunch of candy. And I ain’t got a single problem whupping a nigga’s ass about you.”
She laughed so hard that tears fell from her eyes. “You’re so silly. What about you? What great love affairs have you had?”
“I haven’t really gotten into any affairs of the heart like that.”
“Oh, so you just hit it and quit it?”
“Nope. I’ve just had friendships that worked for me until we both decided that we’ve served our purpose, and it’s time to move on.”
“Somehow I find that hard to believe.”
“Why is that?”
“Because you’re too handsome, too intelligent, too charismatic for any woman not to want to hold on to you. Listen, I won’t lie, it hasn’t been that long, but I’m playing for keeps, Toby.”
“Ya ass had better be playing for keeps. I ain’t no throw away nigga.”
“Why didn’t the other ladies keep you then?”
“I wasn’t trying to be kept.”
“You don’t want to be a kept man?” she teased.
“Hell naw. Well, not back then.”
“Oh, and you are now?”
“Yeah, you can be my sugar mama.”
She laughed again. “I love how you make me laugh.”
“I love making you laugh, big baby. When a man finds a good thing, he doesn’t let go. I’ve found a good thing.”
She smiled shyly at me and reached across the table to take my hand.
“October, I’m so thankful for how you’ve not only made me an important part of your life, but also how you’ve taken to Auburn. That means the world to me.”
“Baby, I’ve been there since day one. Even before we started a relationship, I was the one coming over to check on y’all, giving you timeouts when she had colic, and running to get diapers and wipes when you were sick in bed and couldn’t go to the store.
I was the one who filled that damn nursery up with diapers, wipes, and all the little shit that goes into taking care of babies.
I’ve been the one taking her on shopping sprees even before you would consider me ya man.
“Even when I knew you would get angry and curse my ass out, I still shopped for y’all.
That was a risk I was willing to take. And I’m not bringing this up to throw it in your face.
I’m saying it because, as far as I’m concerned, that’s my daughter.
Ain’t nobody gon’ tell me differently. It doesn’t matter that we haven’t been together long; I’ve been there.
You’ve made an impact on my heart in a short time, Autumn.
That’s all that matters to me. I don’t need to prove anything to anyone except for you and that little girl. ”
“October, you’re too good to me.” She was crying and looking around for something to dry her tears.
I grabbed a napkin from my side of the table and wiped her eyes.
“Whatcha crybaby ass crying for? Baby, nothing could ever be too good for you. In fact, I know that I’m not good enough. But I’ll keep working at being an even better man one day at a time.”
“You’d better be careful because I just might fall for you. They say that autumn can do that for the heart.”
“I thought it was Christmas when most people fall in love.”
“Autumn. Christmas. It doesn’t matter; you can have my heart, October. That’s just how much you make me feel loved, cherished, and protected.”
“Come here, big baby,” I demanded, patting my lap.
She got out of her seat and walked around the table. I grabbed her hand, pulled her onto my lap, and wrapped my arm around her. I reached across the table and pulled her plate closer to me.
Little by little, I fed her the rest of her food, and she relished my attentiveness toward her. I didn’t give a shit about the other patrons who glanced our way. And while I knew that Autumn was probably insecure about being seen that way, it didn’t matter to me.
I was falling in love with the woman, and I was proud to call her mine.
“I’m sleepy,” Autumn declared, climbing out of the car at my cousin Reuben’s house.
“The evening is still early, baby. But if you really want to go, I can take you back home. Let me just run in and say hi to my cousin real quick.”