Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
Olive
“Cece, you gotta hit the ball to make it into the hole,” Jo-Jo said as he leaned on his putter, sounding more annoyed than ever.
Neela laughed as Cece swung the putter, but the golf ball didn’t move.
Once we picked up the kids from camp, Highland drove us across the bridge to The Keys.
We ended up at Hole N One, a putt golf course.
We had been working on the course for the past hour or so, and between all the kids, we were only halfway through the eighteen holes Highland had set up for us.
Cece grunted as she tossed down her putter, stalking over to me with a mean pout, lip poked out and arms crossed over her chest.
“Ugh, this game sucks, anyways. Whose idea was this again? Why couldn’t we just go to the house and go swimming or something.
” That had me smirking as I looked over at Highland who was rubbing his forehead, seemingly stressed out.
The only person besides him who looked to be enjoying themselves was Jo-Jo, surprisingly.
I rubbed her back to apply some type of comfort when Neela joined in, cosigning her sister.
“Yeah, because this sucks.”
I lost my ability to control my laughter as it erupted, causing me to cover my mouth.
“Damn baby, you too. All my girls are done with this, huh? Well, let’s figure something else out.” I looked at Jo-Jo whose face fell and I immediately shook my head, thinking quickly on my feet.
“Highland, this was a cute idea, but yeah, this isn’t my cup of tea either.” Highland grunted and I moved to grab his hand as I rubbed his chest. It slipped my mind that the kids didn’t know the recent development of our relationship and clearly Highland’s too as he wrapped an arm around my waist.
“How about you and Jo-Jo stay and I take the girls with me. We can entertain ourselves while y’all finish the game.” Jo-Jo perked up, with his head moving between Highland and me.
“Baby but we drove one car.”
“And, iDrive is available everywhere. I just need the address to the beach house. We’ll stay down here until the game is over with.”
“Hell no, what I look like having y’all in an iDrive.
You take the car and me and Jo-Jo will make our way to you once we’re done.
Hit the beach house in the GPS and it’ll take you straight there.
And don’t get in there and try to cook either, Olive.
Dinner is on me.” He leaned down and pecked my lips a few times before oohs came from the kids, causing me to blush and step back.
Highland, of course, pulled me back into his embrace, kissing my lips again as he spoke against them. “Don’t be stepping away from me, these kids gon’ get used to seeing us love on each other, aight.” He dug into his pocket, fishing the keys out for me.
“Okay.” This time when I broke away from him, I turned and bent down to talk to Jo-Jo. Outside of a few people, I had never left him with anyone, and here I was, trading off kids with Highland so easily.
“Be mindful and listen to what Mr. Lando says, okay?”
Highland kissed his teeth. “Baby, me and my boy gon’ be good. Go have y’all girl time or whatever. And I meant what I said, ya man got dinner.”
A cheesy grin had my cheeks hurting as I finally accepted the keys.
“I bet you couldn’t wait to call yourself that. I just gave you the title less than twelve hours ago.”
“The title been mine, I’m just finally getting the privilege to put it to use.” One final kiss had the two older kids calling out to us in unison.
“Haven’t y’all done enough kissing yet?” I chuckled while Highland groaned and mumbled something like cock blocks.
“Okay, let’s go girls.”
It seemed that as soon as me and the girls made it to the car, all the questions began to pour out, with Cece being the ring leader.
“So you kissed my daddy, do y’all go together now?” We hadn’t even left the parking lot yet and baby girl started with a bang, causing me to choke on the air I’d just sucked in.
After I got myself together, I let out a few light chuckles, not completely sure how to answer. So I went with the safest response I could come up with as I hit the GPS to pull the directions.
“Little girl, what do you know about people going together?”
“Well, some girl at camp said her mommy kissed a man and now they be together all the time. Like he’s her boyfriend.” She did her best to whisper that last part, which had me laughing lowly to myself.
“Well things look different for each person. Me and your daddy are just good friends.” I wasn’t ready to tell them anything more, especially not without talking to Jo-Jo first on the situation.
Oh God, Jo-Jo. I’m sure he is asking Highland a million and one questions too.
“So you can kiss your really good friends?” I looked in the rearview mirror at Cece, who had her head tilted to the side, basically trying to catch me up.
I licked my lips as I released a new set of giggles and nodded.
“Yup, but only when you’re a grownup. Kids can’t kiss their friends.” I added that in there just in case Cece had any crazy ideas forming.
That made her giggle and had me damn near turning to see her face as if it would tell me anything more.
“You kissing boys, Ceona?” I asked, which brought out more of her innocent giggles in the car.
“No, Ms. Liv. First off, boys are gross and Daddy already said I can’t until I’m thirty-five.”
I laughed then thought about Jo-Jo being her best friend and if boys were so gross now.
“Ay, what about Jo-Jo? He’s a boy.”
“Yeah, but Jo-Jo isn’t like them. He’s not mean to me and he actually sticks up for me a lot. And I don’t want to kiss him either though.”
Hearing Cece talk about Jo-Jo sticking up for her made my chest swell. I knew Jasiel and I were doing a good job, but damn, that’s my son.
“You can’t kiss your brother, Cece, that’s nasty.” That was Neela who decided to join in the conversation.
“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Jo-Jo calls us his little sisters, even though I told him that I’m older than him and that’s not how this works.” I wasn’t here to correct their dynamics on how they saw each other, but I would help Cece see it from Jo-Jo’s.
“Sometimes you have younger siblings who swear they can beat ’em all, and we let them.
We call them the little bigs. Like Jo-Jo would be your little big brother.
And to the younger siblings, it’s a real badge of honor.
I’m happy y’all have Jo-Jo at the camp to look out for y’all. Do the kids pick on you a lot, Cece?”
“Not the boys anymore. The girls just say mean things about us not having a mom and stuff.”
“Pssh, don’t pay them no mind. You have a mom, she’s just not with us here anymore, but you have a ton of other family members who love you just the same.”
“If you and my daddy get married will you be our new mommy?” I gasped as I stopped at a red light, unsure of how to answer this one. These kids did not come to play with the topic of conversation.
And she’s only seven years old?
I cleared my throat as I hit the gas to continue our drive. I finally spoke.
“If that’s what you wanted, and if it’s okay with your daddy, I would love to. But again, we’re a long way from any of that. Now, how about we head to the house, chill by the pool, I’ll make us some girly drinks and paint our toes?”
“With ice cream!” That was Neela adding in extra things to my mental cart for my Munchies order. Highland said no food, so ice cream it was.
“With ice cream!”
Not even five minutes later we were pulling into a driveway of one of the most beautiful beach houses I had ever seen. I pulled out my phone to call Highland to let him know we made it.
The phone rang a few times before his rich baritone greeted me, sounding out of breath.
“Hey baby, did y’all make it?”
“Yeah, we just got here. You’ll find us by the pool, not cooking, when y’all get here. Are y’all good on your end?”
“Ooh by the pool? You bought a suit with you? And of course, me and my boy are good. He kicking my ass in golf. I taught him one technique and now he been using it against me.”
I laughed as I helped Neela out of her seat and we made our way to the door. I appreciated how detailed Highland was. I mean, down to the detail on the keys, I didn’t have to play the guessing game of which one. Nope, he had it labeled with a palm tree and a sand bucket.
“No, I’m going to order one and maybe a pair of trunks for Jo-Jo just in case he wants to get in when y’all get here.”
“Damn, I should’ve given you my card. Hold on.”
“No, it’s fine, this wasn’t part of the date. I can handle—
The vibration on my phone had me pulling it away from my face to see that he’d sent money.
“Whether it was or not, I got y’all covered. Enjoy girl time, Olive.” Highland dragged my name out again, knowing what it did to me. I playfully rolled my eyes.
There he goes again.
“Have fun and take care of my baby, Highland.”
“Ain’t no babies here, woman.” I chuckled as I heard Jo-Jo cosigning in the background.
Once I got the girls and myself inside, they seemed to run right to their playroom, leaving me to explore the house while I caught up to them.
The sun casting through the blinds had me turning to see the massive open space of the living room with the most ridiculous view of the beach.
“Shit, if this is the side view, what is the back like?” I moved through the house slowly, taking in all the décor.
It was simple, yet screamed the girls at every turn.
I loved the openness of the whole thing.
The ceilings were high and the windows were wide.
I made it to the kitchen and did a quick check for snacks when I heard tiny little feet coming in fast behind me.
“Ms. Liv, I’m thirsty. Can I have a popsicle, please?” Neela hugged my leg from the back. Out of all the kids, Jo-Jo included, she was the most affectionate.