10. Legacy
Legacy
“ W hat you got me drinking, girl?”
“It’s called a bittersweet blast gin cocktail. It’s delicious. Drink it. You’ll like it, I promise.”
Legend frowned at the cocktail I made and slowly sipped it. “What’s in it?”
“Campari, gin, vermouth, orange slices, and some wine. Why? Don’t you like it?”
A slow smirk lifted his lips, and he chuckled. “Yeah, girl. It’s pretty good.”
“Oh, I thought you were gonna say no, because I just knew you were fronting.”
“You didn’t know anything. You ready?”
“Yep. We’re sitting at the dining table or in the living room?”
“I figured we could sit at the dining table when we create the board, but we can chill in the living room to eat our tacos while we do our chatterbox.”
“Chatterbox?”
“That’s what I’m calling it. We’re chatting and eating tacos from the box.”
He chuckled. “A’ight, girl. You got it.”
Legend walked into the kitchen and grabbed the box of tacos while I grabbed our drinks and headed into the living room. We both settled on the floor around the coffee table. Legend said a quick prayer before we ate.
“Okay, when you were eight, what did you want to be when you grew up?”
“A cartoonist.”
“Really? Why that?”
“My grandmother used to get the Sunday paper, and she would laugh so hard at those cartoons that it made me laugh too. I would read them and have no idea what was so funny. But I knew that I wanted to make people laugh like that. I always loved my grandmother’s laughter, but nothing could make her laugh harder than that. ”
“I think you would have been great at it. You’re an amazing artist already,” I replied, grabbing a napkin to dab at the picante sauce dribbling down my chin.
“Thank you. That’s always been a passion of mine, along with numbers. What about you?” he asked before he took a bite from his crunchy taco shell.
“Same age?”
“Mm-hmm.” Legend tilted his head sideways to take another bite of his taco and catch the sauce as it dripped from the shell.
“That’s easy. I was going to be a princess-ballerina-gymnast.” My smile was as big and as bright as it was the day that I announced it to my parents.
“A what?”
“I wanted to be a princess, a ballerina, and a gymnast. I was already taking ballet and gymnastics classes, and I was pretty good at both. My daddy always called me princess, so it was natural that I was going to be that too.”
He laughed. “What made you change your mind?”
“A week later, Nobi crushed my dreams. She said, ‘Nobody can be all those things, stupid.’ So I had to settle for one or the other.”
“Aww. I’m sorry, baby. You could’ve been anything you put your mind to.”
We looked at each other, and I wore a serious expression while his bottom lip trembled as he tried to hold back his laughter. It didn’t last for long because once I laughed, he fell out laughing too.
“Did you have an imaginary friend?” he asked.
“No. I was too busy trying to be all those wonderful things. There wasn’t enough room in my life for anyone except me. What about you?”
“Uh . . . I uhm, well.” He scratched the back of his neck and lifted another taco to his mouth.
“You did, didn’t you?” When he didn’t respond but kept chewing, I commented. “It’s okay that you had an imaginary friend, baby. I think it takes a creative brain to have one. What was his name? Mr. Snickerdoodle? Mr. Wallopoppy? Mr. Jiggerooni?”
“Where the hell did you get that crazy shit from?” He laughed so hard that he choked on his taco.
I jumped up and ran to the kitchen for a water bottle and handed it to him. Patting him on the back, I declared, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you choke. I’m just used to hearing kids coming up with crazy names.”
“Not mine,” he declared as he cleared his throat and set the water bottle aside.
“Okay. Let’s hear it then.”
Legend chewed his bottom lip as he stared at me. “Promise not to laugh?”
“How can I? After all, I didn’t have one,” I declared before I took a sip of my cocktail.
“He was made of wood, and he was a rock. His name was Timber the Rock.”
I exploded with laughter, spitting my cocktail all over the place.
“You promised not to laugh.”
I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. “I never promised. I only said, ‘How can I?’”
“Yeah, I’m wondering the same thing. After all, you weren’t creative enough to come up with one.”
I pointed at him and replied, “That’s enough on me. What’s your all-time favorite article of clothing?”
“My CSU basketball hoodie. Man, you should’ve seen me when I first made the varsity team and got that hoodie with my name on it.
Nobody could tell me shit. And I wore it all the time until my girlfriend told me that it needed to be in the washer.
I washed it and wore it until it became frayed at the sleeves.
I stopped wearing it and put it away. I take it out every now and then to reminisce. ”
“About the girl or the team?”
“Man, about them games. That girl didn’t last the entire season.”
“I bet she didn’t with your mannish tail.”
“Whatever. What about you?”
“These right here.” I held my foot up and wiggled my favorite pair of cozy socks. They were scrunchy and purple, yellow, green, and pink.
“Please don’t tell me that you wear them all the time like I did that sweatshirt.” He wrinkled his nose.
“I don’t. I actually love them and don’t wear them often because my mama crocheted them for me.”
“That’s cool. Does she crochet a lot?”
“Yeah, she’s got an entire room for that purpose alone. She says it helps her to relax.”
“What’s one thing that I do that makes you feel like I genuinely adore you?”
My heart wanted to melt right there. His question was thoughtful and caring. I didn’t want to rush my answer, so I pulled my knees up to my chest, embraced them, and replied, “Give me a sec to think about it.”
“Bet.” Legend dug into his tacos again.
After a couple of minutes, I replied. “There are a few things that I could have said, but the one that’s nearest to my heart is that you don’t judge me or consider my anxieties ridiculous.
You stood right in that elevator that day and put your fear aside to see about me.
And every day since then, if you’re with me, you won’t even suggest the elevator.
You automatically take the stairs, even if it’s inconvenient for you. ”
His eyelids lowered, and I admired the long, thick lashes that covered his eyes. Legend reached across the table and cupped my chin. His lips were a subtle caress against mine before he pulled back.
“That’s because I never want to see the fear in your eyes again that I saw the day that we were stuck on that elevator.”
“I don’t think I could ever explain what that moment meant to me, Legend, and what you gave me.”
“I would give it to you a thousand times over just to see you happy and feeling safe.”
“What is the one thing I do that lets you know that I care about you?” He smirked, and I slapped his chest. “Get that out of your head.”
“Just teasing you, beautiful. Seriously, there are two things. No matter how busy your day is, you always stop to check on mine. And when we’re not just texting, but actually talking, you listen to me. I see it in your eyes that what I care about matters to you.”
“Well, it does. You matter to me, Legend. You’ve been nothing but a gentleman since I met you. You protected me from the start. When I was ready to throw my virtue away to prove a point, you didn’t let me.”
“That’s because I could see it in your eyes, and I vibed with your spirit.
That wasn’t you. You’re a good girl, and good girls like to try to fit in with the bad ones or want that title wiped away from them sometimes.
But at your heart and your core, you’re a good girl, and you cannot wash that away. I wouldn’t want you to if you could.”
His thumb caressed my chin.
“What’s the second thing?”
His eyes lit up as he replied, “Oh yeah. Kayson. The way you are with my li’l shorty, and how he responds to you, is genuine. It does a nigga’s heart good to see that your interactions with him and affection for him are real, and ain’t about trying to get close to his pops.”
“Has that been a problem in the past?”
“There have been a few occasions. While I was married and after, women would try to focus their attention on him in hopes of getting with me, but I could see right through them. You had the opportunity to get with me, but ya ass wasn’t thinking about me until li’l guy came around.”
“That Mack hand of his is something fierce.”
We both laughed. We finished off our tacos and headed to the dining room. Our at-home date night tonight was all about us focusing on learning more about each other without sex. We knew that our chemistry was fire, but we wanted our connection to be organic.
“So, what we’re doing here is building a mood board. Something that we can do on the computer together, which is why I told you to download the pictures that made you think of me and us.”
“What’ll we do with it when it’s complete?”
“It doesn’t have to be anything specific. You can just come on this app and check it out, or save it in your phone, or whatever you’d like. I’m using it as my computer’s background screen.”
“A’ight. Let’s see what we create, and I can figure out what I want to do from there.”
I pulled up the app and created a blank whiteboard canvas. I opened the folder of items that were a collection of his pictures and mine.
“First one that we both had in common was the zoo,” I explained as I grabbed his picture and then mine and put them on the board in different positions.
“That’s cause it was my li’l G that brought us together. Gotta give props where props are due,” Legend conceded.
“I totally agree. That’s why my next picture is one of Kayson,” I explained and pulled up a picture of Kayson that I had taken of him that day at the zoo. He was so happy, and his sticky face was smeared with blue and green streaks from cotton candy.
“He was in his zone that day.”
“He was. He’s an amazing kid. You guys have done a great job of raising him.”
“Thank you,” he mumbled softly.
I turned to look at him and saw the sadness in his eyes. I leaned over and brushed a kiss against his forehead and caressed his cheek.
“My second picture was of Michael Saxon. That man’s a beast on the sax, and we both enjoyed him, and he’s one of your favorite musicians,” he explained.
“He is.”
We placed a few more pictures on the board, and when we were halfway finished, Legend leaned back and stared at the board.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m thinking that if we move the zoo picture here, the rooftop picture there, and then add in a couple of elements like a saxophone, wine, and a basting spoon there, it adds a little more flair,” he explained as he dragged those different items onto the board.
“You’ve got an amazing eye, Legend.”
“It’s part of my architectural background. It’s the little things that go into a building that make it pop and stand out, as well as those small details that make the biggest difference in the structural foundation.”
“Okay. Well, I may not understand all of that, but I love that you have that gift. Do you think you can take me on a trip someday to see some of the buildings you’ve designed?”
“I would be honored to, pretty girl.”
He kissed me, and I rested my head on his shoulder.
“I look forward to building on this foundation,” I declared, pointing at the board.
“Me too, baby. Me too.”