Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
Bright
Last Saturday in September
The day of the soft opening for the bed and breakfast, Bailey and I went by early so she could do the final walk-through before the guests arrived.
She waited for me to walk around the truck and open the door for her.
I rewarded her with what was supposed to be a quick kiss on the lips, but once she stuck her tongue in my mouth, it was up.
I kissed her deeply, wrapping my hand around her neck lightly as I did so.
She moaned in my mouth causing me to involuntarily grip her neck a little harder.
When we broke the kiss, I helped her down from the truck.
She intertwined our fingers and we headed toward the stairs.
Inside, I low-key marveled at the job she and my crew had done on the place.
The paint colors she’d selected along with the finishes really made the new and improved bed and breakfast a showstopper.
“Damn, lil mama,” I commented, doing a three hundred and sixty degree turn in the foyer. “You did ya thing.”
She looked around critically with her nose and her eyebrows scrunched up. “I did. It looks good, but what is that smell?”
I sniffed the air but didn’t smell anything except the scent from the diffusers she’d chosen. “Bergamot?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t like it. It smells rancid. Remind me to replace those diffuser oils.”
We made our way to the kitchen where the chefs she’d hired were hard at work plating the food for the event.
It was all small plates and finger-sized dishes meant to provide potential clients a taste of the bed and breakfast’s offerings.
She’d hired a few waiters and waitresses from the lodge to walk around with trays of the appetizers.
“Hey, sugars.” Pearlie Mae greeted the two of us with a smile as we weaved our way between the servers who were getting a crash-course on the expectations from Pearlie Mae’s husband, Theo.
“Hey.” Bailey gave her a quick hug.
I gave a small head nod. “What’s up, Pearlie?”
She grinned. “It’s almost time. Theo and I are so excited. We’re ready to do you proud, Bailey, and kick off the event with a bang.”
“Me too.” Bailey returned her grin.
“So, I put aside somethings for you two to taste.” She waved her hands back and forth and shook her head.
“I know you’ve tasted my cooking, and I know I went over the recipes with you until we both were blue in the face.
But I wanted y’all to try the final products.
” She left us by the work island and walked over to the commercial style stove, removing two plates from the warmer drawer.
She set the plates in front of us and everything looked good as hell.
“We have the cornbread crab cakes.” Pearlie pointed at the crab cake.
“Cornbread crab cake?” I repeated. “What is that?”
“It’s a crab cake, just like your brother makes over there at Good Ashes. But we soul food aficionados substitute the bread crumb with cornbread. It gives them a little bit of a different texture and a little bit of a different taste, but they’re still delicious.”
I nodded.
“This is the lobster and grits”—she pointed before adding—“my personal take on shrimp and grits. The bourbon sweet potato bonbons. The buttermilk chicken tender. And the curried cabbage. For dessert I did deconstructed red velvet cake trifle in personal sized cups and banana pudding shots.”
“Damn, everything sounds good.”
She slid one of the plates closer to me. “Well, this is your plate. Try everything.”
The next few minutes were filled with Bailey and me moaning our pleasure over the taste of the offerings. Once we were done, Pearlie scooped up our empty plates. “I’m sure you have other stuff to check on, Miss Bailey. I won’t hold you.”
“Thanks, Pearlie. Your food is gonna be a hit.”
“Later, Pearlie,” I called as Bailey and I continued our walk through.
Once the guests started arriving, Bailey and I got separated.
The bed and breakfast was full with people walking in and out of all five guest rooms, eating the food, and stopping to make reservations with Church, who agreed to play receptionist for the evening.
Bailey had a deejay playing clean 90s hip hop and R&B.
She even hired a bartender to offer mocktails, because she didn’t want anybody getting drunk at her event.
The entire production was a vibe. I could see that Alisha and Bayliss were going to have a successful venture on their hands thanks to my girl.
I had just stuffed another sweet potato bonbon into my mouth when a text came through.
Bae-Bae: Bright, I’m in the bathroom upstairs. I need help.
She needed help? That sounded sketchy as hell.
What kind of help did she need in the bathroom?
I was gone off the girl, but I wasn’t sure we were at the point where I could wipe her ass.
I blew out a sigh and headed for a staircase that was off limits to the guests.
They led upstairs. There were no guestrooms upstairs, only a small apartment-like dwelling that was meant for the property manager to live in.
At the top of the stairs, I could hear her before I could see her. She was throwing up and it sounded violent.
“Damn, baby,” I muttered softly as I followed the sound.
There she was in the bathroom, on her knees in front of the commode. “Oh my gosh. I feel like a piece of shit. I think something was wrong with the food. What if the other guests get sick? What if they sue us?”
I took a moment to assess how I was feeling. I’d eaten just as much of the food as she had, probably more. “I feel cool. No bubble guts. Nothing.”
She heaved, but nothing came up. She groaned. “This is a disaster. First, there was the stench in the foyer, now the food is making me throw up. I just want to go home.” She started to cry.
A lot of thoughts and emotions were hitting me at once. I didn’t like seeing my girl down and I damn sure didn’t want her crying. But there was also something else at play. I tried not to lean into what I was feeling and keep my thoughts rational. “Bae-Bae?”
“Yes?” She sputtered through her cries.
“Do you think you could be pregnant?”
“Pregnant?” she practically shrieked.
“Hear me out. Hear me out,” I requested. “Lately, I’ve been feeling super protective over you. I mean, I’m always protective over you, but I’ve been feeling . . . I don’t know, extra ass protective. I basically don’t want people even looking at you.”
“Such a man.” She managed to chuckle with a small shake of her head.
“And lately when I’ve been in the pussy, it’s been different.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“In a good way,” I said quickly. “Like you’re always juicy as fuck, but lately you’ve been even juicier, if that’s possible. Now you’re talking about stenches that nobody smells but you. And you’re sick off of tainted food, but everybody else is good. We’re always fuckin’.”
“We do have a lot of sex . . . unprotected sex.”
“Listen, I try—”
She cut me off with a punch to the bicep and a huff. “Not if I’m pregnant.”
“You’re the one who can never wait for me to get the condoms, lil mama.
” I helped her up from the floor, since she hadn’t heaved in about two minutes.
“If I didn’t know any better, I would think you like me making you into a twinkie.
” I smirked as she blushed. “It’s cool if you like getting nutted up, Bae.
Just don’t be surprised when you end up pregnant.
” I moved her to the sink so she could rinse out her mouth.
Our eyes met in the mirror over the sink.
She was pretty as hell even with tear stains on her face, her hair threatening to escape the ponytail she had it in, and her cheeks flushed pink.
She opened the drawer, pulled out a pack of new toothbrushes, and a travel size toothpaste.
I stood beside her as she went to work on her mouth.
Once her breath was fresh, she spoke. “First of all, I’m so glad that I decided to stock this apartment even though my mom and Bayliss haven’t hired a live-in manager.” She turned around so that we were facing each other. “Secondly, I don’t like there being any barrier between us when we have sex.”
“Like I said, you like it when I make you into a twinkie.”
“Shut up. I like that you make me feel safe enough to give you my whole self.” She took a deep breath. “You inspire me to trust you, and that makes me feel fearless where you’re concerned. That makes me feel, like I said, safe with you.”
I kissed her on the forehead. “Good. Because you can trust me. You are safe with me.” I bent my knees so that we were eye to eye.
“I’m not gonna fumble you, Bailey. I know you’re coming off a marriage where that nigga was a complete butterfingers when it came to you.
He fumbled, dropped, and mishandled you. That ain’t this.”
Her voice came out as a whisper. “I know. It scares me to trust you so quick. So soon after getting the divorce. My better mind tells me that I should’ve taken some time to myself to really be single. But my heart is so stuck on you, Bright.”
“Ditto.”
“But possibly pregnant?” She wiggled away from me and sat on the edge of the bathtub. “That’s a lot.”
I took her hand and pulled her up from the ledge of the tub.
“Come on.” I led her into the bedroom. It was connected to the bathroom.
I sat her on the bed, then I pulled up the chair from the desk in the corner over to the bed.
I sat down facing her. “It’s scary.” It was a statement, not a question.
I could tell she was scared, because her eyes were wide.
“I could never get pregnant when I was married. We were together for almost seven years, and I only got pregnant that one time. I thought I was infertile. I don’t even know if I can carry a baby to full-term.”