Chapter 21 October
October
“You can taste the grapes,” our tour guide instructed, showing us how to pull one from the vine. “They do have seeds in them, so please use the bags you were handed at the beginning of the tour to place your seeds inside.”
I picked a couple of grapes from the vine, for Autumn and myself. I popped one in my mouth and then fed the other one to her. She closed her eyes and moaned softly.
“So sweet. They taste nothing like the ones in the grocery store,” she remarked.
“I know. It doesn’t get any better than off the vine, baby.”
We kept walking with the small group as our tour guide explained the process of making wine and what the vineyard workers were doing.
I looked out over the land and took in the acres of the vineyard along with the nice villas that were at the edge of the property, but closest to the winery and the restaurant. Autumn was intrigued by the entire process as we made our way through the vineyard.
“This place is so beautiful and peaceful,” Autumn remarked.
“It is. I love the scent out here too. Good clean air and the powerful fragrance of the earth.” I inhaled deeply, loving the earthy and floral aroma of the vineyard.
I grabbed Autumn’s hand and intertwined our hands together as we walked the rest of the tour, learning about the different variations of wine, the work that was done during the different seasons, and the bottling process.
Once we finished, we all climbed back inside and traveled up to the winery in an open-top tour bus. We were on a tour of the Laramie Falls Winery & Restaurant in North Georgia. I had taken her away for a weekend at the vineyard in the North Georgia mountains.
“This is the part I’ve been looking forward to,” Autumn professed and clapped her hands like a little child. Her cheeks were red, and excitement sparkled in my baby’s eyes.
“You think you can handle your liquor?” I asked while the instructor explained what we could expect next after we stepped inside the restaurant and winery.
“I know that I can, October. What are you trying to say?”
I smirked at her and shrugged. “Just that your ass is a little lightweight is all.”
“I’m not,” she hissed playfully at me.
“Oh, okay. We’ll see.” I teased her mercilessly.
We walked throughout the winery watching the process of transforming the grapes into wine before we stopped at a group of tables where they placed glasses in front of each of us.
They started us off with a selection of white wines accompanied by grapes, strawberries, nuts, and prosciutto.
Autumn tried hers with Brie and Havarti. I chose Gruyere and smoked Gouda.
“This is so delicious, baby. These cheeses are way better than the ones we buy at the Farmer’s Market back home.”
“We’ll have to figure out a way to get you some and see if they ship them.”
“You think they might?” she asked excitedly.
“Yeah. Look at your ass all geeked up over some cheeses,” I replied, dropping a kiss on her cheek and squeezing her booty.
“Because this is all so fun and romantic, and so exciting, October.”
“I figured you would like it. I know this is something that you’ve been wanting for such a long time.”
“How did you know that?” she asked.
I dropped a kiss on her lips and wrapped my arm around her neck.
“I pay attention to you, big baby. Every time you’re looking at those winery tours on that home improvement network or one of those women’s networks, and they have a winery in those romance movies, you go on and on about how romantic they are, how beautiful, and how peaceful they look. ”
“Doesn’t mean that’s where I wanted to be.”
I smirked and shook my head. “You’re funny, big baby.”
“Whatever. But thank you for bringing me here. It’s so beautiful and relaxing,” Autumn professed.
“I’ve told you already. Whatever you want, I aim to give to you, sweetness.”
“Oh, so you’re like my genie in a bottle, huh?”
“All this dick ain’t gon’ fit in nobody’s bottle, ma. I can assure you of that.”
“October.” Autumn hissed and slapped me on the chest.
One of the tour guides who had been on the bus with us looked in our direction. The girl smiled in a way that let me know I could get into them panties, but the only woman I wanted was by my side.
“Come on, pretty baby. Let’s get you in the restaurant so I can get you fed and drunk. Then I’m gon’ take you back to our cabin and take advantage of you. You’re all I want. The only one my eyes can see,” I declared.
Just as we walked off, I heard the girl mutter behind us. “I can see why . . . Her big ass hides everything else from sight.”
Autumn froze beside me and slowly spun around. I gripped her around the waist. “Baby, she ain’t worth it,” I whispered.
“Bitch, you mind repeating that for me?” Autumn asked, walking toward the girl.
“Don’t be mad at me because your man been eyeing me since y’all arrived.”
Fire burned inside of me, but I didn’t have to say anything.
“Girl, you wish he were eyeing you. And if he was, he was probably wondering why you come to work with that crunchy ass wig, dingy ass leggings, and them run-down gym shoes. Trust me, boo, when I say my man wasn’t thinking about you.
But I could see how you might have thought he was looking at you, seeing as how you got them eye boogers in your eyes.
Got you looking all types of crazy and cross-eyed.
Try washing your face and your ass before you come to work next time, baby girl. Come on, October.”
Old girl stood there with her eyes bulging and her mouth twisted like she’d eaten something sour. She clearly hadn’t been expecting Autumn to check her thirsty ass.
“Baby, you good?” I asked, catching up with Autumn.
“I’m just fine. She’s not about to ruin my trip. But I’ve got something for that ass.”
We headed into the restaurant side of the building and waited for the hostess to usher us to our table. We were seated after five minutes, and Autumn left to wash her hands.
The girl walked up to our table and stopped.
“I don’t know what you see in her, but—”
“Let me stop you right there, li’l mama. My girl already checked the hell out of your ass, and I got a feeling that she ain’t through with you. So, if you want to keep your wig intact, I suggest you step off now. I promise you that I ain’t got no problem checking you.”
“Oh, I guess big girl season must be in. I forgot that it’s getting cooler outside,” she replied, sucking her teeth.
I chuckled and shook my head. “Big girl season is in year-round by popular demand, but thirsty girl season ain’t ever popular.”
She frowned at me, muttered, “I didn’t like your light-bright ass anyway,” and turned to walk away. Autumn was quickly striding in our direction, and I just shook my head. She wore a smirk on her face, and I couldn’t help but wonder what she was up to.
“What’s that smirk for?” I asked as she took her seat.
She glanced at her watch and then back up at me. “That little hot tamale is about to be called to the back. And then in about five minutes, she will be traipsing her ass out of here and never returning unless it’s as a paying customer,” Autumn informed me.
“The hell did you do, Autumn?” I asked as I saw one of the winery managers beckon the girl.
“Nothing. I just issued a formal complaint.”
“I thought you went back to wash your hands.”
“Oh, I did that along the way too. People are gonna learn not to mess with me. I’m a woman in love, and I have no time for foolishness.”
“Ahh shit now. I’ve created a monster,” I joked.
“No. You’ve taken what was a beautiful woman and made her extremely confident and whole.”
“Baby, I’m glad that I could be that for you. I’m glad that you feel good about yourself again.”
“Again?” she scoffed. “I never did. October, I told you that I was always self-conscious as a kid and as a teen. But I worked hard to make sure that no one saw that part of me. I hid it from the world through sass and jokes. Being loved by you has changed all of that. I no longer hide away from the world or go someplace quiet to cry because of something mean that someone has said about me or being disgusted with myself when I look in the mirror. I don’t worry about coming to restaurants like this where people are bound to look at me and judge me for ‘eating too much.’”
“Good, because I’m starving. And I’m not about to give two fucks about what anyone’s got to say about some shit that we’re eating tonight. I’m eating off your plate, and you’re eating off mine. We’re gonna get our money’s worth and eat the best of everything.”
“Bring it on. You’ve said nothing but a word,” Autumn replied with a wide grin as she wiggled her fingers for me to hand her one of the menus. They were both stacked on my side of the table. I handed her a menu and perused mine while she did the same.
After we placed our order of grilled hangar steak, seared shrimp, pimento cheese grits, garlic fries, the house salad, and a red wine, I saw the girl storming out of the restaurant with her bag on her arm. Her eyes were red from crying.
“Damn, Autumn.”
“It costs nothing to be polite. Anyway, tell me what you’re going to do to me tonight.”
I chuckled at her ass and proceeded to do exactly as she asked.
“I was thinking about Wilson,” Autumn stated after halfway through our meal.
I set my fork down, grabbed my glass of wine, and gulped it down.
“You haven’t heard me out.” She speared a cucumber from her salad.
“That nigga almost ripped my family from my hands. He got me fucked up.”
“You do realize that you’re going to have to shut those feelings off.
If he wants to be a part of her life, I cannot refuse him that right, October.
He threatened to take me to court already, and the last thing that I need is to be dragged through court because he wants to be petty. How did y’all know each other?”
My stomach tightened because I wasn’t sure how she would take what I had to say next. But I also wouldn’t let any more time pass before I told her the truth.
“I used to know him when we ran the streets. He was one of them little corner dope boys, and sometimes he used to come buy shit from me.”
“Oh, you were one of the big dope boys, I guess, huh?” she teased, placing a piece of shrimp into her mouth.
“I did what I needed to do to survive.”
“Why did you have to do that to survive?”
“It’s what my dad taught us. Polo was in the streets and—”
“Polo Patterson is your father?”
“Yeah. You know him?”
“He was only one of the biggest names on the streets. People always looked up to him.”
“What the hell do you know about the streets, Autumn?”
“Nothing. You know how teenagers are. Anything anyone else was talking about, especially the popular kids, people tried to act like they knew something about it. I was no different than anyone else.”
I nodded, thinking about how I used to run the streets with my daddy since I was a little kid of six. He would take me with him to collect money, run up on niggas, and pretty much any other business he had to handle.
“Let me find out ya ass was in the streets or fucking with one of them dope boys.”
“I promise that I wasn’t.”
“Autumn.” I was hesitant in my tone, and she instantly picked up on it.
“What’s wrong, Toby?”
“Earlier, you mentioned that he would have the right to see her if he wanted to.”
“Is that going to be a problem for us?”
“I’m not the one with the problem, but I think there’s something that I need to tell you.”
“What’s that?”
I looked around the restaurant, and I began to reconsider my decision. Maybe I should have broached the topic after we were back in our cabin.
“You know what? Maybe this wasn’t the right place to bring this shit up. I didn’t think this through completely.”
She reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “October, I promise not to act out, and I swear that I’ll sit here and hear you out, no matter if I like it or not.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “Get your iPods out, and I’m going to connect them to my phone.”
Autumn frowned at my strange request, but she did as I asked.
Once her iPods were connected to my phone, I opened the app and pressed play.
I sat back in my chair and swirled my wine around in the glass while she listened.
My eyes were glued to her face, and a part of me wished that I could spare her the pain, but alternatively, I knew she needed the truth.
The entire time she listened to the recording, her eyes stayed glued to mine.
Autumn never took her gaze away from me.
But the shit that bothered me was that she didn’t give a clue as to what she was feeling.
Her face was expressionless, and it caused me to worry about what she might be feeling.
I didn’t know if she was angry with me or what she was going through, but I couldn’t hide it from her.
The last thing that she needed was to find out what I’d done through some other means.
When she finished listening, she removed the iPods from her ears and put them away. Wiggling her fingers for my phone, she asked, “May I see that, please?”
“Hell nah. Not if you’re about to throw my shit.”
She tilted her head sideways and then shook her head. Her lips were slightly poked out like she was pouting. “I’m not going to damage your phone or do anything to your phone.”
I handed it to her and watched her closely.
“What are you doing?” I asked after she disconnected her iPods from my phone. She was still messing with shit.
“I am sending myself this voice message in a text,” she answered, holding the phone up so that I could see it.
“Why?”
“Proof. In case anything ever comes back, and he tries to come for me. I want to have a record of him saying all this shit about my daughter and me.”
“I know you’re probably fucked up right now, but—”
“I’m good, October. Thank you for telling me before someone else did. That would have hurt.”
“I’m sure this does too.”
She wiped at her eyes and blew out a long exhale. “It does. I cannot lie and say that it doesn’t, but at least I know where she stands in his life. Did he sign the papers?”
“He did. I’ve got them at home.”
She nodded. “I’m ready to go.”
“Damn, baby. I’m sorry that I messed this up for you.”
“You didn’t.”
“Then why are we leaving?”
“So I can thank my man properly for saving the day as always.”
A beautiful smile spread over her face and warmed my heart. She wasn’t holding that against a nigga after all.