Chapter 5
Five
X arielle
I awoke to the faint smell of the ocean and the sound of waves crashing against the surf as an easy breeze floated into the bedroom from the window I’d left cracked.
The sheets on the bed, the decor of the room, everything made me feel like I’d spent the night wrapped in a cocoon of luxury.
Even having the breeze float in was a luxury because I never would’ve fallen asleep with my window cracked at home.
The way the crime rate was set up in my area, that would’ve been an invitation to somebody with nefarious intentions.
At home . I smiled. For the first time in my thirty-two years of life, Londynville wasn’t my home. Jackson Island was my home.
“I live on a whole island,” I whispered to myself.
But this isn’t your house. You’re this man’s employee. It’s his house. And as soon as his girls are old enough to start school, you’re out of here .
“Well, I have to enjoy it while it last, live in the moment, and save my ass off.”
Because if I could help it, I was never going back to Londynville as anything but a visitor.
I stretched, climbed out of bed, and began making it up.
I had no idea what the day would bring, but I knew that whatever it brought, it would bring it right next to the ocean in a mansion, not right next to the alley, one block removed from the most impoverished neighborhood in the state. I had definitely leveled up.
I walked into the kitchen showered, dressed, sun-screened, and ready to go.
The girls were having breakfast—toast, scrambled eggs, and berries.
Dakota and Destin were seated on booster seats at the kitchen island.
Kept stood behind Destin’s chair, wrangling her hair into a ponytail.
He knew what he was doing too. He was using the exact technique I would use.
I smiled to myself. It hadn’t occurred to me before this very moment that he was the one who did his girls’ hair.
“Good morning,” I said. “Good morning, Dakota. Good morning, Destin. Good morning, Kept.”
“Hi.” Dakota looked at me, her big brown eyes so innocent and pure.
“Hi, sweet girl.”
Destin was too busy giving her dad a hard time to speak.
“Hey, Xarielle. Good morning.”
“Did you need help?” I asked him.
In all the years that I’ve known Kept, I’d never seen his biological mother. His skin was fair, and he did have cheekbones that were chiseled by God, but there was nothing about his features that gave me the impression that he was anything other than a light-skinned black man.
I’d also never seen Dakota and Destin’s mother.
Both girls had sun-kissed, toasted brown skin, brown eyes, chubby cheeks, and dark hair.
The curl pattern of their hair was pretty loose.
While I knew that black hair came in all tones and textures, their hair did make me wonder about their ethnic make-up.
The brush and a wide-toothed comb came sliding across the island. “Thanks.”
Dakota’s hair was in the same ponytail it had been in the day before. I removed the ponytail holder and gently brushed the soft strands to make them neat. After gathering them, I wrapped the ponytail holder around them. She was as cute as a button.
“You’re soft.” She gazed up at me.
“Is your daddy not soft?” I asked teasingly, cutting my eyes to Kept.
“Not always,” she admitted.
“Hey.” He pretended to be offended. “I’m gentle.”
Destin screamed out her disagreement as he finished wrapping the scrunchie around her hair. We all laughed. He mushed her head playfully.
“Whatever. Eat your breakfast so we can go.”
Kept walked over to the refrigerator and took out one of those travel cups that were all the rage. They were expensive, and I had never really gotten the hype.
“I normally have a smoothie with my breakfast—strawberry, peaches, mango, maca, a little spinach, a little banana, and some coconut water.”
He walked over to me and held out the cup.
“Thank you.”
“There’s also granola, Greek yogurt, grab-and-go breakfast bars. Feel free to check the pantry and grab whatever looks good to you.”
“Wow,” I said as I stepped into the space. “Your pantry is bigger than my entire last apartment.”
I wanted another one of those parfaits he made for dessert the night before, but I figured that it would be quicker for me to just grab a granola bar.
“Ready.” I stepped out of the pantry.
“Yo, you have to stop acting like my house is the royal palace or something. You’re starting to make me feel self-conscious.”
My forehead scrunched, and my eyebrows slammed together in confusion.
“Wait. You’re feeling self-conscious about being successful?
” I shook my head. “Don’t do that. That’s not my intention, Kept.
I’m mentally cataloguing all of the splendor and fancifulness of your life.
That way, when the girls are in school full-time and you have no need for a nanny, I’ll be able to remember what this life was like.
Your house is like . . . a dream come true for me, a fantasy, something I’ve only ever seen on HGTV. ”
I heard him mumble, “HGTV.” He wiped Destin’s mouth with a paper towel, then released her from her booster chair. “Let’s head out.”
We followed him into the garage. Amid several luxury vehicles sat Yo-Yo, my raggedy but hard-working truck.
“There’s my girl,” I said, smiling at the sight of her.
Kept turned around to face me. “Uh, speaking of your girl. I know she’s been your loyal companion for several years, so I’m hoping you won’t take this as shade or with offense.”
“You’re embarrassed by her?” I deadpanned flatly. If he was, I wouldn’t even be offended. Jackson Island wasn’t Beverly Hills, but I hadn’t seen any vehicles in the same shape as Yo-Yo on my drive into town.
“Not so much embarrassed by her as concerned about her reliability.” He held up his hands to stop me from talking, when honestly, I didn’t have anything to say.
“I know the truck made it here, but I would feel more at ease with you and the girls driving around in a newer vehicle. Like I said before, with Trinity in Atlanta, there’s no back up. It’s you and me.”
I nodded my understanding.
“I get it. And I would feel terrible if I got stranded somewhere with the girls and you had to leave a job site to come rescue us.” I rubbed my hands together in playful anticipation. “So, what do I get? A Benz? A Caddy? An Infiniti?”
He gestured around the oversized garage. “Is there a specific one you want?”
I quickly walked around the space, pretending to make a calculated decision. I wasn’t a car girly. I’d never been in the position to research or pay attention to cars. I spotted a pretty sage g colored SUV.
“The green one,” I told him.
He didn’t hide his chuckle. “The Volvo?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Yes?” It came out as a question.
That caused him to chuckle again. “You got it. I’ll have you added to the insurance and get you a set of keys.”
“Seriously?” I practically skipped over to his Range Rover.
“Yeah.” He lifted Dakota and leaned in the truck to buckle her in.
I scooted around to the other side and did the same with Destin.
“When I bought my truck, I spent the entire day at the used car dealership. This was the fastest transaction ever,” I teased.
“Stick with me, kid.”
Back at the house, Kept and I moved around each other rhythmically. I took the girls to the bathroom to use it then wash their hands. He put the groceries away then prepared lunch for them with leftovers from the night before.
“You want some lunch, Xarielle?”
“Nah. I think I want to test out the truck you’re letting me drive. I want to go exploring, find the mall, find the Chick-fil-A.” We both laughed. “I know you don’t eat fast food, but I do.”
“All right.” He shrugged his shoulders. “See you later. There’s a remote to raise the garage attached to the visor of the truck.”
“Thanks. See you.”
I walked out to the garage and climbed into the green truck that had initially caught my eye. The upholstery was leather, and it smelled like heaven. The seat seemed to conform to my body, just as the bed in the guestroom had done.
I realized one thing about luxury materials—they conformed to the curvature of the body. I set my GPS for the mall, raised the garage door, started the truck, and I was off.