FIFTEEN #3
It sounded like Frankie Beverly, if her ears weren’t mistaken. A golf cart rolled by carrying three older women dressed for somebody’s luncheon, each of them wearing sunglasses with their purses sitting carefully in their lap.
Nina sat up straighter. “Where are we?”
“The Bluff.”
She tilted her head at him as if it would help her remember. “The Bluff? I’ve never heard of it.”
“Most people haven’t.”
She looked back outside, unable to take it all in fast enough.
There was a small bookstore on a corner with a green awning and two rocking chairs out front.
A wine bar sat beside it, and they had a patio filled with Black couples sipping Rosé beneath striped umbrellas.
A historic church appeared next, white with navy doors and a bell tower that looked like it had witnessed baptisms, funerals, weddings, and a praise-filled service each and every Sunday.
Beyond that, a row of homes sat towards the water.
This was beautiful. Nina could smell the Black pride as they drove by.
“My family came to the Hamptons all the time. How did I not know this was here?”
Jio turned down another road.
“Because this not where tourists go.”
She looked at him. “I'm not a tourist.”
“You are when you in a city that you don’t live in, baby girl,” he chuckled. Nina took offense to the stupidest things, they had to work on that.
She wanted to call and ask her mama if she ever heard of the town, but it would open up way too many questions.
Nina kept a healthy distance from her family these days.
She only showed her face when it was absolutely mandatory.
She barely spoke to any of them, nor did she care to change it, especially when the phone worked both ways.
Unfortunately, she washed her hands with her sister Talia too.
She’d disappointed her one too many times. Nina prayed she was well.
Nina had experienced the Hamptons through her family’s version of access.
She’d been to the most exclusive country clubs.
They attended the popular annual brunches and charity events.
Her mom always made a big deal if their table wasn’t in the front, which was known as the big spender and donors area.
Nina saw the polished side of the Hamptons.
However, the historian that lived inside of her wanted to get out of the car and explore The Bluff.
She also wanted to know how The Bluff got left out of the discussion for where families could spend time when they came to the Hamptons.
The Bluff was like a city within a city.
She’d never seen anything like this before.
Her chest tightened. “Jio...”
“Yes, babe?”
“This is… breathtaking.”
He laughed. “Is it?”
She was being dramatic but he was used to it.
“No, I mean...”
She searched for the words. “It’s amazing.”
He glanced at her and took her hand in his and kissed her fingers. “Just like you, boo.”
“I'm trying not to press my face against the window.”
He laughed and the sound filled the truck with warmth. Finally, it felt as if the heaviness around him was floating away, or maybe the weed he smoked had helped change his mood.
“Go ahead, babe. On the way home, we can stop and get something to eat. My homie has a soul food spot that has the best greens and cornbread you’ll ever have in your life.”
“Hmmm… that sounds so good. We haven’t had soul food in a minute.” She rubbed her stomach. Jio quickly looked away because she already knew what he was thinking.
Nina stared back out at The Bluff, trying to commit everything to memory in case they didn’t return.
She loved it all, especially the big ole trees.
It was so many businesses that she would’ve loved to peep her head in to support.
Nina took in every minor and major detail about the town.
There was a quiet confidence that The Bluff carried.
“Alright, we just rode through The Hills. Now we about to head into The Flats on the other side of town,” he let her know.
“But we’re still in The Bluff, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah, The Flats used to be the hood back in the day but they gentrifying it, so it’s changing. The Hills is the suburbs. That’s where you’d live if you stayed here.”
“Whatever and you’ll be right with me.”
Jio smiled. “For sure.”
Her heart skipped a beat as she gazed at her handsome man.
Nina fell in love with him a little more with every passing day and today was no different.
She loved that he always expanded her palate.
She learned something new from Jio all the time.
For a woman like her, who was well-educated and traveled, being impressed or properly informed didn’t come easy.
For instance, when she told Peaches that she and Jio were going to the Hamptons for the weekend, she was hype; meanwhile, Nina’s first thought was, “I’ve been there a hundred times. ”
Yet here Jio was showing her something new.
He understood the value of taking her through The Bluff.
It was a town that had all the things she loved.
History. Community. Land and legacy. He wasn’t one to brag, due to the fact that he wasn’t raised like that, but when the time was right he would tell her how he was directly tied to The Bluff.
The deeper they drove into the town, the more Nina understood that she wasn’t just looking at pretty houses.
She was looking at evidence that somebody had dreamed beyond survival.
Evidence that somebody had sat at a kitchen table, church basement, law office, or back room with a cigar burning between their fingers and decided that Black families deserved more than access to places built without them in mind.
Evidence that land could be more than property.
Her grandfather would’ve understood her emotions.
The road was curvy and it took them around and around until they passed another stretch of homes that were tucked behind gates and flowering hedges. Some looked newly renovated, sleek with glass walls, marble accents, and landscaping that required an entire team of people to maintain.
There was something so normal about it that it became extraordinary to her.
Nina had grown up surrounded by successful Black people.
Doctors, lawyers, executives, artists, politicians, judges, entrepreneurs, and everyone in between had moved in and out of her family’s orbit.
She knew wealth when she saw it. She had seen achievement up close.
Nina could give you a hundred examples of black excellence, but this right here was so different.
It was what it looked like after the work was done and you took your rest.
A tear fell down her face but she wiped it away quickly before Jio could tease her. She would have to blame it on her hormones.
Jio slowed near a stop sign where an elderly man sat beneath a striped umbrella selling jars of honey, peach preserves, and homemade hot sauce from a folding table.
“That’s Mr. Bancroft,” Jio told her.
The older man lifted his hand after he saw Jio’s truck.
Jio lowered the window.
“Mr. B,” he acknowledged him with respect.
“Well, look at what the rattlesnake done dragged through here,” the man called out, pushing his sunglasses on the top of his head. “The prodigal son returns.”
“I was here last summer.”
“For six hours. That don’t count,” Mr. B fussed.
Nina laughed quietly.
Mr. Bancroft leaned in to see into the passenger seat. His eyes landed on Nina, and the curiosity in his expression sharpened with interest.
“And who is this pretty young lady?”
“This is my girlfriend Nina,” Jio introduced her.
Nina looked at the man and smiled. “Hi Mr. Bancroft.”
“Whose yo peoples?” he wanted to know.
“My last name is Marcelle.” She killed his curiosity.
The man’s eyebrows lifted. “Ah.”
Nina didn’t know what ah meant, but she had a feeling it contained more information than she currently had access to.
“It’s nice to meet you,” she said politely.
“Same to you, baby.” Mr. Bancroft looked between them before giving Jio a slow nod. “Your grandmother would’ve liked this one.”
For reasons Nina didn’t understand, the truck grew quiet and Jio’s smile disappeared.
“Yeah,” he said. “She would’ve.”
Mr. Bancroft seemed to know he’d stepped onto sacred ground because he didn’t linger there. He tapped the side of the truck twice.
“Gone and buy this girl something.”
Jio reached into the console and pulled out a few bills before handing them over.
“What you got today?”
“Peach preserves, honey, and Mae made a lemon pound cake and it’s not that foolishness they sell in stores. You gon’ taste the lemon in every bite!” He bragged on his wife’s baking skills.
“Give me two of each.”
Mr. Bancroft packed the jars into a brown paper bag and handed it through the window.
“For Ms. Vee,” he let Jio know as he passed plastic containers of cake to them.
“I figured.”
“And don’t let her tell me she ain’t get it.”
Jio laughed. “I’m not.”
The exchange was brief, but Nina watched it with quiet fascination. There were layers here that she didn’t know he had. There was a version of Jio that she hadn’t met yet.
As they pulled away, Nina looked down at the paper bag in her lap.
“Your grandmother used to come here?”
Jio kept his eyes on the road. “Her and my grandfather lived here part-time before she passed.”
“You never told me that.”
“Babe, it’s a lot we haven’t talked about.”
Nina looked out the window, thinking about how much of Jio she still didn’t know.
“What was she like?”
He kept driving but she knew he heard her.
“She was soft when she wanted to be,” he said eventually.
“Hard when she had to be. Everybody listened when she talked. She demanded so much respect.” Jio purposely didn’t think about his past. It fucked him up too much emotionally.
But damn… his grandparents were truly missed. Life hadn’t been the same without them.
“She would’ve loved you,” he co-signed Mr. B’s statement.
“You think so?”
“Yes, without a doubt.” The certainty in his voice did something tender to her.