Chapter 13
Thirteen
K ept
I found Jayla in the loft. It was almost noon, and she was still in what looked like night clothes.
“Let’s talk,” I said.
Dakota was in my arms, so Jayla tried to pick up Destin. Destin wasn’t interested. She kicked and wiggled until Jayla reluctantly put her down.
“I feel like they don’t love me,” she whined.
I didn’t respond. Instead, I walked into the girls’ room. Trinity was standing at Dakota’s bed, fully dressed, and loading her suitcase.
“Hey, Trin.”
The girls ran into her open arms, and she gave them hugs “Hey, big bro.”
“Can you give us a minute?”
She nodded, gave the girls one last firm hug, and left the room.
Jayla plopped down on Destin’s bed.
“Look, I don’t want you to ever say that I tried to keep the girls from you, so here they are. You probably want to get some kisses and hugs, maybe read them a story, or braid their hair . . . whatever you need to do to feel like y’all had bonding time because you can’t stay.”
She made a small gasping noise.
“You can’t, Jay. I don’t know if that was your intention or what. But if it was, if it wasn’t, you can’t stay here. Your life isn’t here. I mean, it could be on Jackson Island, but it can’t be here.” I pointed down to the floor. “It can’t be here in my house.”
She rolled her eyes and sucked her teeth. “For a person who never had much to say, for these last few days, you’ve been saying a mouthful.”
“Keeping my thoughts to myself made everybody comfortable, except me. It’s my time.” I shrugged my shoulders. She sighed. “You still haven’t heard from dude?”
Her head fell, and she looked down at her feet. “He keeps saying he’s on the next flight, but you see he isn’t here.”
“Do you know where he is? Why don’t you just go to him?”
“Because I don’t have any money.” She had an attitude like I was the one who ran her pockets. “All the money is his. He won’t let me work a job, and he rations the money.” She blew out a heavy sigh. She lowered her voice to add, “I’m in a fucked up position.”
“How much do you need, Jay? Enough for a plane ticket where? Miami? L.A.? London?”
“I would love to go to London to pack my stuff and come back to the States.” Crocodile tears began to form in her eyes. She was such a cry-on-cue little actress. “But I don’t have anywhere to live here.”
The conversation I had with my father ran through my mind.
He’d asked me what I would do if my ex needed me, and I said throw money at the problem.
The fact that I was actually in the same hypothetical situation and was fully prepared to throw money at the situation made me want to smile.
My therapist would be proud of how self-aware I was.
It had taken years for me to come to know and understand myself.
This was proof that I was moving in the right direction.
“Where would you want to live . . . hypothetically?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“Miami.”
I had a property in Miami. It was the same one she stayed in when she went to have the mommy makeover almost two years earlier. I bought it when I thought flying from major city to major city to hit up strip clubs and fuck indiscriminately was where it was at.
Now, I was a full-time dad and completely uninterested in wasting time on women or situations that didn’t serve my current lifestyle. I had no use for a place in Miami.
I nodded slowly. “I’ll have Dawn book you a ticket for tomorrow.
” I was already texting my assistant telling her what I needed.
“She’ll get the place in Miami ready for you and arrange for your things to be shipped there from London.
I’ll give you her number so you two can talk.
Two things. First, don’t treat my assistant like shit.
She works for me, not you. Be kind and courteous to her.
Understand that everything she’s doing for you is because I asked her to do it.
Treat her like she’s doing you a favor because she is.
Secondly, don’t play with my girls’ emotions.
We’ve been in this room talking for the last few minutes, and you haven’t paid either of them any attention.
You haven’t tried to hug them or engage them. Nothing.”
Her mouth fell open. “You just saw me pick Destin up, and she wiggled out of my arms. They don’t want to be bothered with me, Kept.”
“They don’t know you, Jayla. They’re kids. Do you expect them to make you feel welcome when you walked out on them? They’ve been here all along. They know each other. You’re the stranger. You need to act like the stranger you are and try to get to know them.”
“I love them, Kept.”
She must’ve seen the skepticism on my face.
“I do,” she insisted. “But I’m so distracted right now. I don’t even know where I’m going to be living.”
Again, she started up with the fake, forced tears. Mercifully, a text came through from Dawn.
“Listen, I honestly can’t handle your baggage and my own. Your flight’s leaving out of Hartsfield in the morning?—”
She cut me off. “Atlanta?”
“Yeah, and you know you need to be there hella early because Atlanta’s airport is crazy. You’re flying direct to London. When you get there, you need to reach out to Dawn. She can make arrangements for your belongings to be shipped to the spot in Miami.”
“Thank you, Kept. Thank you.” Her expression turned contemplative, and I already knew what she was thinking.
“Yeah, I’ll have Dawn wire a couple of stacks to your bank account.”
She basically vibrated with happiness, which made me feel some type of way. But at the end of the day, I wanted her gone. If money would do that, then I was glad I had it to spare.
“One deposit,” I told her. “I’m paying for the plane ticket.
I’m letting you stay at the spot in Miami rent free, and I’m making one deposit into your account.
This is a one-shot deal. There won’t be any repeat performances.
The next bind you end up in, you’re gonna have to figure a way to get your own self out of it. ”
About an hour later, I watched Jayla pull away from my house and relief settled over me.
I walked into the kitchen to fix myself something to eat because breakfast was a distant memory.
Through the windows of the enclosed back porch, I could see Yahirah, Nehemiah, Trinity, Ayden, and Cecily on the back deck with Aunt Reese.
Nehemiah peeked his head into the kitchen. “Yo, grab Xari and meet us on the deck right quick. My mother has something to tell us before me and Cecily head back to Nashville and Yahirah and Ayden head back to the A-T-L.”
“Cool,” I agreed.
A few moments later, Xarielle and I joined the others at the dining table on the back deck.
“I wanted to keep this information to myself, but I knew that wouldn’t be fair,” she began.
“Oh no. What’s wrong, Mama?” Tears were already forming in Yahirah’s eyes.
Nehemiah stiffened. Xarielle sat forward in her chair. I actually sat back.
“My doctor has recommended that I have surgery to remove a large fibroid. It’s causing a lot of issues for me, and it would be best to get it out.”
Yahirah immediately burst into tears. She grabbed her daughter’s hand and squeezed.
“It’s okay, Hi,” she assured her. “It’s giving me so much pain, baby. I wouldn’t risk an operation if it wasn’t. Once they get it out, I’ll have my life back.”
“When is the surgery, Mama?” Xarielle seemed to be the only one who could find her voice because the rest of us stayed uncharacteristically quiet.
“Next month?—”
“Who is this doctor? I’mma need to talk to him before I agree to any surgery.”
“You need to talk to him?” Nehemiah scoffed.
“I’m a health care professional, Nee, in case you forgot. And I need to speak to this doctor before I’ll allow him to go cutting on my mama. I need to make sure he’s not a quack!”
“He’s not a quack.” Aunt Reese gave a chuckle. “He’s been my gynecologist for years. I trust him. But, if it’ll make you feel more comfortable and more at peace with the idea of me having surgery, I’ll give you his name and number.”
“Thank you,” Yahirah said, rolling her eyes at Nehemiah.
“Of course, baby.”
“We’ll be there for the surgery,” Yahirah added. “I mean, I can’t speak for Ayden, but I’ll be there, Mama. I’ll fly into Londynville and be with you.”
“Me too.” Nehemiah croaked before clearing his throat. “Just make sure I have the info—the time, the date. I’ll definitely fly in.”
“We’ll be there too,” I assured her. “Xari and I are definitely coming.”
“I’ll fly in to watch the girls,” Trinity said. “Like Nee said, just give us the particulars.”
It was Reese’s turn to cry.
“I wasn’t expecting all of this. I was just letting you all know what’s going on.”
Yahirah and Xarielle both jumped from their seats to give her hugs.
My head spun. My aunt was having surgery.
My ex was moving into one of my places for an undetermined amount of time.
My biological mother wanted not only to reunite with me but to be allowed access to build a relationship with my girls.
My father was her biggest advocate. I was falling for the nanny—a girl I had known since we were kids.
I could already feel anxiety building inside of me. My response to stressful situations had always been to unplug, shut down, and retreat inside of myself. I knew that I needed to talk all of this shit out with my therapist before I went over the edge.
We ran errands the next day. The first stop was the community center. After informing Sanders that I was replacing him, I needed to find a new swim instructor. Once that was handled, the second stop was the house in Port Jackson.
“I love thishouse,” Xarielle told me as I pulled the truck to a stop in the crushed-shell driveway.
I looked over at her and grinned. “Good. Keep that energy.”
“Why?”
We got the girls out of their car seats and walked up to the house. I unlocked the door, disarmed the alarm, and finally turned to her.
“Because I want you to decorate it. I want you to tell me what you think it needs to make it a place that we’d want to stay. I’ll allocate the money, and it can be your project if you want it.”
“My project?” Her brown eyes were alight with wonder and excitement. “What exactly does that mean? You’ll let me decorate it?”
“I will.”
The joy in her eyes clouded over. “But you’re the architect. You’re the home builder. You’re the one who knows what it takes to make a home appeal to a buyer.”
“Right.” I nodded slowly. “I know what it takes to make a home appeal to the masses. I know how to make a home universally appealing. I understand using beige paint in every room so potential buyers can envision their belongings in the house. I want you to do something different. I want you to make it appealing to you, to us, to this family. And if you need guidance, I’ll give it to you. But I want you to have control.”
“You said this family .”
“I know.”
She stared up at me. “You consider me part of your family?”
I backed her up as I stared into her brown eyes. When her back hit the wall, I caged her in with my arms.
“Am I not making it clear to you how I feel about you, Xari? Am I not giving you enough to feel what I feel? Check it out. I know I can be reserved. I’ve heard it my whole life.”
“I can be distant.”
I shook my head and rested my lips atop hers. “What? You probably can be, but you’re not with me or Dakota and Destin. You’re the best thing that could’ve happened to us, and if I’m not making you feel that way, if I’m not showing you that on a daily basis, then I’m fucking up.”
She stared into my eyes, unblinking. I stared into hers.
“I don’t even know how to handle everything you’ve brought into my life . . . bring into my life on the daily.”
“Same,” she told me.
I want this girl so fucking bad .
It was wild as hell because she’d only been in my house for about three months. I already wanted her in my bed. I wanted her to belong to me.
She stepped out of my arms. “So, you want this house to reflect the four of us. You, me, Dakota, and Destin?”
“Yep.”
Her grin was wide. “And what’s my budget?”
After we walked through the small house nine hundred times and Xarielle had compiled her list of the areas that she most wanted to address, we went to the third and final stop on my list.
“Where are we?” Xarielle questioned as I pulled the truck to a stop on a barely-there road in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere.
I turned to her with a smirk. “We’re in the middle of what will soon be the Destin Sky subdivision.”
Her hand flew to her mouth as it fell open in surprise. “I love that name. What town is this?”
“Atterson. I was waiting to hear if I was approved to build from the Village board of trustees. It’s finally a go. Twenty houses, twenty different elevations. No two houses can look the same on the outside.”
She basically yelped. “Get out of here. And you can do that?”
The fact that Xarielle always seemed so interested in my work made my heart do weird things in my chest.
“Yeah. I can do that, baby.”
“So, why are we just sitting in this truck? Let’s go see the land. I want to explore the future home of Destin Sky. I wanna know the price range. This might be where I buy my first house.”
I didn’t even bother to comment, because as far as I was concerned, she already lived exactly where she was going to live for the foreseeable future.
She opened the passenger door. “I wanna look around, Kept.”
I turned off the truck. “Let’s look around.”
Back at the house, the four of us had lunch: pulled chicken, a broccoli salad with a homemade vinaigrette, and potato wedges. Xarielle poured cold filtered water into glasses and set them on the table.
“No soda for you, huh?” I confirmed, watching her take a long sip from her glass.
“Surprisingly, I discovered that I prefer the taste of water to all of those sweet drinks. It quenches my thirst more . . . thoroughly? I don’t know. Since I’ve been drinking it more, I want it more.”
I nodded. “Let’s go over this week’s family memory verse.”
Xarielle started us off. “Mark, chapter twelve, verse thirty.”
“ Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind, and with all of your strength. Mark 12:30.” We recited it as a group.
The words my great-grandmother used to pray over me when she thought I was asleep came to mind every time we recited a memory verse. “This child has suffered so much in his young life, Lord. A woman who loves you, may you bless him to find.”
Granny Bernie’s pastor used to preach that some people were living off their grandparents’ prayers, prayers that were prayed before the grandparents passed away. Looking at Xarielle across my kitchen island, I knew he’d been talking about me.