Chapter 12 British
British
“Congratulations!” I hear Suzanne squeal through the phone. I already knew Junior would tell her. Of course he did.
“Thank you so much,” Zara replies, smiling sweetly as she sits on the counter. I lean against the island, watching her. Her face is glowing. Eyes gleaming. But her attention is on the call, not on me.
“No problem, hunny. Welcome to the wife club,” Suzanne says, flashing her ring through the camera. Zara lifts her hand too, showing hers off with a shy grin.
“Mi a go get mi nails done shorter though,” Zara beams, admiring her hand. My legs start rocking slightly, involuntarily. Brown eyes locked on her. She doesn’t even notice.
“Fi graduation?” Suzanne asks.
“Mi just a go wear them short till mi have the baby,” she answers casually.
“Okay… but as mi mention graduation—girrrll, a wah mek dem a rush everything so?” Suzanne huffs. “It’s like dem nuh wah next year come and we still deh here a wait.”
Zara covers her mouth as she laughs, eyes crinkling.
She’s too soft for this world sometimes.
I keep staring. Her voice, her joy… the way her collarbones peek out under that tank top, the curve of her cleavage, the hickeys on her neck, all from me.
I bite my lip and chuckle quietly to myself, thinking ‘bout last night.
“Dem a tell we fi get ready fi graduation and still nuh send recommendation list yet,” Suzanne continues. “Anyway, girl, dem say a tomorrow or Thursday the results post. So I guess we fi just gwaan prepare same way till everything settle.”
Mi nah lie, no hate but dem cyaa done chat?
I tilt my head slightly, eyes still on Zara. Her laugh. Her ring. My mark on her skin. Mine. She just don’t know the half of what she got herself into yet.
“Yes, fi real… mi a go find out if mi mother did get the dress for me,” Zara says, scrolling on her phone.
A message from Gutta pops up on mine.
Gutta: Your fren did call eno
My brow furrows. I tilt my head slightly and start typing. Gutta opens it and sends a voice note. I slide off the stool, step outside, and press the phone to my ear.
Which fren dat?
“Dat a Nature niece man… she did a say mi fi tell yuh say she deh bout now, fam. Look like she nuh have yuh personal number again so a the number inna the office she call.”
I type back fast.
Ah cool… she lef yet?
Gutta: Yeah mon
Send the # to me
I walk back inside, heading upstairs to change my shoes.
Zara mash up the old phone that had everybody number, so now mi just a work wid a backup until the new one deliver.
Been ordered it, but mi nah really meds phone right now.
Mi a try hold it down ‘til mi ready fi wild dem.
Got Zara a newer one too, she been wanting to upgrade. So I sorted that for her already.
I throw on my Air Forces and head back down. Zara looks up from her call, smiling instantly when she sees me coming. Her cheeks lift, that beautiful smile she always gives when mi walk in a room. “You a leave?” she asks, voice small. I respond with a nod. Her smile dims just a little.
“Yeah man, mi soon fawud,” I tell her, resting one hand on the island next to her, the other pinning her gently in place.
She brushes her hair behind her ear, soft and slow.
That nervous habit always shows when she’s about to act up.
I lean in and press a kiss to her lips, a soft one, enough to taste but not stay.
“You tek the vitamins?” I ask, eyes fixed on her mouth.
“Long time,” she replies, her tone playful.
“Alright, Mami heart a love enuh.” I turn to move, but her arms wrap around my torso, stopping me mid-step. I look down at her. Her eyes hold that familiar gleam, not just love. Lust. A need. I smirk.
“Nickoi,” she murmurs, dragging it out like she know what she doing.
“Yes, Mami?”
“It so early and you a leave? Mi pregnant, enuh… mi cyaa stay home alone.”
I chuckle under my breath. Look how much times Zara stay home by herself and say she good. Sometimes even she act like she allergic to outside when me ask har fi roll wid me. Especially now since she pregnant. Now all of a sudden she a’ act brand new?
I tilt my head and she tugs on my shirt, pulling me down. Her lips press against my ear, voice like silk. “Yuh sure yuh wah leave me?” Jah Jah…
Truth is, mi woulda stay. But mi affi link Simone.
“Mi nuh wah lef yuh enuh, Mami. But mi have things fi deal wid,” I murmur. She exhales and steps back, disappointed but graceful.
“Alright. Be safe,” she says, her voice smooth enough fi tempt any man to turn ‘back.
“Promise,” I reply, then walk out and head straight to the Benz.
Soon as I slide in, I open Gutta’s chat.
Just like I expect, the dawg come through.
The number is there. Real G. No matter wah, Gutta always deliver.
I save the number fast and call it, connecting the phone to the car.
It rings out. I call again. She picks up and just hearing the voice, thick English accent, sweet tone, it pulls a smile outta mi.
“Hey… like yuh friend send the message fast, man,” she says, always ready with a joke. 1 Simone, man.
“Long time mi nuh hear from you enuh, foreigner,” I say, honking the horn once before speeding off.
“Yes, for real. But that’s ‘cause mi never had your personal number,” she replies, voice light.
“That good, man,” I mutter, eyes fixed on the road. “Mi a come link yuh. Weh yuh deh?” I ask, honking again, this time more aggressive as the car in front of me crawls slow for no reason.
I suck my teeth before overtaking him cleanly. “You know I’m in Liguanea. Mi just a grab something fi eat,” she says.
“Patty, doh?” I ask, smirking.
She laughs. “How yuh know so?” Her laughter lingers through the phone, that same playful tone she always had. After she tells me exactly where she is, I end the call and head straight in her direction.
***
“You?!” she gasps loudly, eyes wide. I nod with a small smile.
Mi expect har fi be shocked, yeah ‘cause everybody weh really know me know seh mi nuh do relationships. Or at least, not for too long. So, fi hear say mi engaged and a expect a youth? That affi shake dem up.
Simone bites into her patty. “I can’t even get it like this in England in their so called ‘Jamaican’ restaurant,” she complains, licking her lips, before smiling again.
She’s staring at me now, still halfway in disbelief. “But come again… you really have a girl you serious ‘bout?”
“Definitely,” I tell her. No hesitation.
She looks at me like she can’t believe it.
“I mean… mi a hear you… you sound sincere but it’s sooo hard to believe.
If mi never a eat this,” she says, waving the patty, “mi woulda come round deh come give you a bear hug, essi. Even though mi know you hate hugs. I’m super, super proud of you though, mate. ” She grins and I nod.
“Respect, fam,” I smile.
“So why you never tell me this earlier, so mi coulda grab a gift for your fiancée?” she asks.
“Phone wid yuh number mash up,” I reply and she sighs.
“Mi nuh wah your fiancée feel no way say a you alone mi buy gift for. Tell her say a because it’s always you alone mek mi only buy gift for you,” she says in an apologetic tone.
“That good, man. And yuh nuh need fi get me nothing, mi good,” I say, and she looks at me like mi mad.
“Nickoi… how many times are we gonna have this conversation? Every year? Okay fine, I know you don’t like it when I bring gifts for you, but I did anywayyyys.”
I start laughing. “A every year thing this fi real,” I say through the chuckle, and she laughs with me.
“Then mi coulda really come back a Jamaica and not bring nothing fi me brother?” she asks, and I smile.
Mi know yuh probably a wonder who she be… so mek mi tell yuh.
When I was staying at Nature’s house, she lived there too.
She used to be overly friendly, even when I didn’t want to socialize.
She’d annoy me until mi finally talk to her.
I was mean to her, too ‘cause at the time, even her voice irritated mi. She was too happy. Too bubbly. All about family and I had no clue what that felt like. I grew up in a toxic home. Plus, I had just witnessed my father’s murder by a close family friend.
So people being ‘too happy’ around me? It rubbed me the wrong way.
I was damaged. So when Simone come around wid har bright spirit, all it did was annoy mi. But she was the only female in my past I had a platonic relationship with. She wasn’t ugly, not at all but I never saw her like that. She was more like an older sister. Still is.
“So how are your twins?” I ask her, snapping out of the memory.
She beams. “Those girls are so rude, let me tell you. Sometimes mi wonder if they’re boys… no sah, man,” she says, throwing her hands up dramatically.
I chuckle. “Ah so everything good though?” I ask.
She nods. “Yeah, everything is good.” Then she pauses. “Just happy to be here again, yuh know? So when mi leave yasso, mi a go look fi uncle.”
I stand up, and she pulls me into a hug. “Congratulations again… and tell your wife I apologize for not getting something for her,” she says, patting my back before she tells me to follow her.
She drives a BMW now. “Yuh get a Bimma? Mi love that,” I say with a small laugh. Last mi know, she used to drive a Chevy.
She pulls a box from the car and hands it to me. “Mi know you nuh want it, but take it.”
She right bout that. “Respect, though,” I say.
Then she gives me another bag. “Bought this for myself, but mi a go give your fiancée as a gift cause mi love her already. Tell her say she do something legendary fi change you,” she says, and I laugh.
When she’s finally done babbling, I open my car and take out a brown bag, handing it to her. She smiles as she takes it. “What’s this?” she asks, curiously.
“Early Christmas gift exchange,” I say with a smirk.
She laughs, holding the bag like it’s gold. She starts opening it and I gently grab her hand. “Don’t open it yasso.”
She grins. “Rich bwoy,” she whispers.
“Go on,” I say with a low laugh. She climbs in her car, but before she drives off, she calls out to me.
“Take care of yourself, bro. And call me more often.”
I nod once. “Yah. 1 British.”
She laughs. “You still call me that?”
“Yah.” Even after all these years, even when she speaks patois, the British accent still slides through. It’s who she is.
“Drive safe,” I tell her.
“I will, same to you,” she says before pulling off.
I stand there for a moment, watching the road where she disappeared. Then I turn, and jump in my car.