Chapter 21
Present Day
After their lovemaking that night, they fell into a deep slumber… so deep that they forgot to read the letter from Lynx’s father, and Lynx almost missed his flight. However, with the intention of wining, dining, and spoiling Fateema, Lynx bought her a ticket to DC for the following weekend.
She took Friday off and caught a morning flight. He picked her up from the airport, and they went directly to her favorite restaurant in DC for brunch. They’d been there for about fifteen minutes, had already placed their order, and were awaiting their food.
“I’ve missed you,” Lynx confessed.
“You’ve told me at least twenty times since you picked me up from the airport. I’ve missed you too.”
“Thank you for not refusing to come.”
“Why would I do that? I wanted to see you just as much as you wanted to see me.”
“I know, but it’s only been a week, and we’ll see each other in Jamaica in two weeks. I thought you might want to wait until then.”
“I’ve gone months without seeing you, so if we had to wait until then, it wouldn’t have been any different than the times before.”
“I disagree.”
“Why?”
“Because my intentions are different. I’m taking every opportunity I have to make you fall in love with me, remember?”
“Yes, I remember. Well, thank you for flying me out.”
The server returned with our food, and after taking a few bites, they continued conversing.
“Did you bring the letter?” Lynx asked.
“It’s in my purse. We can—”
“Give it to me. I want to read it now.”
“Right now? You don’t want to read it in private.”
“Nah, here is fine.”
She hesitantly removed the envelope that held the letter from his father from her purse and handed it to him. He quickly opened the envelope, and she watched as his eyes moved across the paper. When he finished, he gave it back to Fateema.
“What does it say?” she asked as she stuffed it back into her purse.
“You can read it later, but ironically, it was nothing I didn’t already know or hadn’t figured out.
He apologized several times for keeping his illness from me.
He thought it was best and asked for my forgiveness.
He didn’t tell me about Kena because he didn’t want to see the look of disappointment on my face after realizing he’d cheated on my mother. He asked me to look after Kena and…”
“And what?”
“To marry you.”
“To mar—oh, wow. Mr. Keno always had my back when it came to you.”
They indulged in a few more bites of food before Lynx asked her what she meant by her last statement.
“Why would Pops have to have your back when it came to me?”
“Because we talked, and I shared some things with him that I didn’t want to share with my dad.”
“Things like what?”
“None of your business.”
“Oh, it’s like that?”
“Yep. I would've come to you if I wanted to talk to you about it. It’s good to know Mr. Keno was trustworthy. He took our conversations to his grave, and I respect him more than I did before.”
“If you say so, but this situation with my sister and his health kinda made me lose some respect for him.”
“No one is perfect, Lynx. Mr. Keno made some mistakes, but he did his best. He raised you to be the man you are today, and I think he did a great job.”
He nodded but didn’t respond. Since his father passed away, his feelings about him were up and down. Some days, he was sad, some days he missed him, and others, he was angry. Today, he was neutral.
“Let’s talk about something else,” he suggested.
“Okay. What do you have planned for us this weekend?”
“Oh my God! I can’t believe you signed us up for a dance class,” Fateema exclaimed.
“That was not just any dance class, Bunny. We learned authentic Jamaican dance moves. I can’t wait until we touch down. When we go to the club, everyone will think we’re natives.” Fateema almost fell out in laughter as they walked to his truck. “What’s so funny?”
“We’ll need quite a few more classes to look like natives,” she responded when she calmed down.
They’d arrived at his truck, and he pinned her against the passenger side door. “A lot of those moves are sexy, and we can start practicing as soon as we get back to my place.”
He kissed her lips before she said, “I hope you’re planning to feed me before we do any more sexy moves.”
“Of course. Let’s go.”
He helped her get inside his truck, and once he was settled behind the steering wheel, they were on their way.
“Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Oh my God. Everything doesn’t have to be a surprise, Lynx.”
“Okay. We’re going to get something to eat.”
She smacked her lips and rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I guess I’ll be surprised.”
“Maybe I’ll come see you next weekend, and we can find a Jamaican dance class in Chicago.”
“I’ll see you in Jamaica in two weeks. You don’t—”
“If you’re about to tell me I don’t have to come see you, save it.”
“But it’s not necessary when—”
“Save it, Bunny.”
She put her hand up in surrender. “Saving it. How much longer before we’re there?”
“Not much longer.”
She pulled out her phone and looked through all the pictures they’d taken that evening to pass the time. One of them reminded her of a picture they’d taken in high school, making her smile.
“Do you remember that picture we took when you got your first car?”
“Yeah. It was the screen saver on my phone for a long time.”
She waited until he stopped and gave him her phone. “Doesn’t this remind you of that picture?”
“Damn! We’ve barely aged, if I do say so myself.”
“Right. No one would guess the pictures were taken over ten years apart.”
When the light turned red, she took her phone and continued scrolling through pictures. A few minutes later, they stopped in front of a burger joint. She looked up and couldn’t help but smile.
“You don’t know how much a juicy burger and strawberry shake would hit the spot right now. My day has been made.”
“You haven’t tasted the food.”
“You better have done your research before bringing me here. If it’s trash, I’m on the next flight back to Chicago.”
Ignoring her threat, he got out and went to the passenger side to open the door.
“I’m not worried,” he said, addressing her threat.
He definitely had nothing to worry about. About fifteen minutes later, when Fateema took the first bite of her burger and sipped her shake, she was in heaven.
“Lynx, how did you find this place? I’ve never had a burger or shake this good.”
“Not even at home?”
She looked around as if someone in the small restaurant actually cared what she said. “Don’t tell anyone I said this… not even at home. This is hands down the best.”
Lynx smiled as she devoured her burger and shake, dancing in her seat between bites. It did his heart good to see her smiling and enjoying life.
“I can’t wait to make you smile like this every day,” he told her.
“I don’t think it would be wise of you to feed me this every day. I’d have clogged arteries and high blood pressure.”
“You don’t think anything else can make you smile like this?”
She pretended to think about it. “Maybe, but I’ll leave it up to you to figure out what that is.”
Thirty minutes later, they stood at the passenger side door of Lynx’s truck. As he grabbed the handle to let Fateema in, she stopped him.
“You good?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I just wanted to thank you for today. You really put a lot of thought into our plans, and I appreciate it.”
“I’m glad you’ve enjoyed, but our night isn’t over.”