20. Legend
Legend
N ine minutes and fifty-nine seconds. That was how long I had been sitting in that spot before she saw me. When my boy, Courtland, texted me and told me that he’d run into her in the café, I wanted to go down there.
But then I wasn’t sure how she would react with people around. I was tired of the game we were playing and how we were avoiding each other. I texted back and asked if she was on the elevator with him, and he said no. She was taking the stairs as usual.
I grabbed a room-temperature water bottle, the only way she preferred them, and I walked down two floors from the fifteenth to the twelfth floor. I sat and I waited.
“What’s that for?”
“I thought you might want to stay hydrated. You always do whenever you work out.”
“I was getting lunch, not working out.”
“You gon’ take it?” I asked.
She looked pointedly at all the items in her hand. “I would, but . . .”
I stood. “Here, let me help you with that.”
“What’s this all about, Legend?”
“It’s about how we left things.”
“You mean how you left things? You embarrassed the hell out of me. The way you looked at me, the way you talked to me, and how you threw my sister out of that restaurant and carried me out. I’m not some cavewoman, Legend, and you’re no caveman.
I had every right to be in that restaurant, the same as you did.
Just because you got busted in a lie didn’t mean that you could kick us out. ”
“Yes it does, when my fam owns that restaurant.”
“Huh?”
“That was my uncle’s restaurant. I wasn’t ’bout to have you up in there airing our dirty laundry, running his customers off, and tarnishing our good family name.”
“You could have said as much.”
“And you could have done what I asked of you.”
She blew out a breath. “I can already see this isn’t getting us anywhere. And you know what, Legend? I’m fine with that. I’m not going to keep giving you my best when all you’re giving me is your worst.”
“Check it, ma. You ain’t hardly seen me at my worst. What is it that you want from me?”
“I wanted a little common decency and courtesy, okay? I wanted you not to lie to me.”
“What the hell do you think that I lied to you about, Legacy?”
“You said you had an appointment that day.”
“I did.”
“What was the appointment?”
“It was the final one that we had with Dr. Giselle Champagne. We had gone to her toward the end of our marriage. While we knew that we weren’t going to stay together, we wanted to seek healing for what we had gone through so that we could healthily raise Kayson together.
For most of the sessions, I was closed off, and I didn’t want to talk.
But somewhere around the time that I met you, I opened up in those sessions.
I had you to thank for it. I simply wanted to complete my final session that I agreed to. That’s what I did.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“I know. You were too busy trying to cut a nigga up, thinking you busted him and all.”
“Yeah, I feel like a real fool for that.”
“And you should have.” I clowned her. “Now give me that shit.” I took the food container from her hand, along with the tea, after I set the water bottle on the landing.
“Boy, you’d better not run off with my food.”
I lifted an eyebrow at her. “Damn, you think I’m broke and can’t get my own lunch?”
“I don’t know what you can and can’t do. I just know that I’m starving.”
“That’s fair. Come on. I know the perfect place for you to enjoy that.”
“Besides my desk?”
“Yeah. Trust me.”
She sighed. “Okay.”
We walked up past the twentieth floor. I swiped my badge against the card reader, waited for the locking mechanism to click, and then opened the door.
“How did you gain access to the roof?”
“Every business owner, CEO, or partner in this building has one.”
She nodded, and I led her to the edge, where there were a few tables set up around a garden area.
“Wow. It’s beautiful up here. I didn’t realize that they had all this up here.”
“Figured you didn’t, but I also thought you might appreciate it.”
“I do.” She nodded as she hesitantly sat down.
She bowed her head, and I thought she was about to say grace over her food, but she looked up and pushed it back.
“A lot has happened in my life over the last couple of weeks. I found out that my best friend is creeping with her sister’s ex behind her back.
The sister found out about it and jumped her this weekend when we were in a club, my other friend finally confessed that she was the one who told the sister, and you and I fell apart. ”
“Feels more like we were ripped apart,” I mumbled.
“I’m woman enough to apologize for the part that I played in it.
I had no right to confront you in the manner that I did.
If I had been on my own, I probably would never have set foot in that café.
I would have been hurt, angry, and confused, and I would have ghosted you.
But I wouldn’t have confronted you that way.
I allowed my sister to get inside my head, and I did something that was out of character for me.
It was my fault, though, not hers. I didn’t have to come in there and act like an ass. I’m sorry, Legend.”
I knew it took a lot for her to admit that, and I had Courtland to thank.
“Ace, I was too deep in my chest about my pain that I couldn’t see that I was hurting you.
My grief and my pain ran so deep that I didn’t give a damn about what anyone was feeling in that moment, except Kali and me.
You didn’t deserve my coldness, baby. If I respect and care about you the way that I say that I do, then I should’ve been protecting you and not hurt you. I’m sorry, baby.”
She rolled her eyes upward, and I saw the tears pooling there. “I hate this shit,” she declared with a nervous laugh as she ran her fingers underneath her eyelids to capture the tears.
I started to reach out and do it myself, but she shook her head. “I’ve got it.”
I realized that she wasn’t trying to smear her mascara, and I would’ve fucked that shit all up if it had been me. I sat back in my seat and handed her my pocket square.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Whew! I didn’t mean to break out crying like a big baby on you.”
“It’s all good. Now what we gon’ do to fix this shit that we broke?”
She giggled and shook her head.
“Well, in my past relationships, we always had sex to make up.”
“Listen, ma. That sounds lovely, but I ain’t doing shit like you did in your last relationship. We’re doing things our way.”
“Well, what did you do in your past relationships . . . so we can avoid doing it again, I mean.”
“We shut each other out. Distanced ourselves from one another.”
“I’m guessing that it was probably more you than your ex-wife, since it’s the same thing that you did to me.”
“Baby, I was angry, and I also wanted to give you the space that I thought you needed to get your head together. Because the way that you were coming at me, I knew that you had to be out of your damn mind.”
She laughed. “I was acting a bit crazy. I’m sorry, Legend. Do you think you could ever forgive me?”
“I already did. Why do you think I was waiting for you on that step today?”
“Thank you for being the bigger man.”
“You think you would have ever come to me if I hadn’t made the first move?” I asked.
“I know that I would have. All I’ve been talking about is how much I missed you.
I’ve told everyone who was willing to listen how much I missed you.
Things don’t happen overnight though. I knew that I needed to get my heart and head right before I approached you.
The last thing that I wanted was to play the fool again after I had done that with Regal.
Then there were issues with my friends. There’s just been so much going on that I knew I needed time. I didn’t want to make a rash decision.”
“How do you propose we work through future problems, Ms. Reese?”
“I think that we should give each other the benefit of the doubt. It’s clear to me that you need space and don’t like dealing with things in the moment.
Alternatively, I need reassurance and affirmations because my mind starts going, and it’s always gonna be the worst-case scenario with me.
I’m just keeping it real by telling you how it is with me,” Legacy explained when she saw my face scrunched up.
“All right.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I vow to be more intentional about communicating with you and expressing my feelings in a positive light. I’ll make sure that I don’t leave you with all this doubt and insecurity.
As your man, it’s my job to protect you, love you, and make sure that you have assurance in your heart about me and your place in my life. ”
“And I will give you the same.”