The Brooklyn Way

Chapter 7

7

B rooklyn

One thing I couldn’t do was complain about the state of my life. I was actually happy. Authentically happy—not the happy that people faked for social media. I spent my days surrounded by the positive energy that the community center provided and sewing to my heart’s content. I had created an entire wardrobe of bright colors and colorful prints for myself and pieces that were custom fit specifically to my body that flattered every curve and made me feel great.

When inspiration hit me, I worked on Carrington’s wedding gown. I added elements and took them away. I retooled and restyled. I felt confident that the final result would blow both Carrington’s and her mother’s minds.

With Big Red’s guidance and assurance, I had even managed to make myself a custom swimsuit to wear to Cameron and Carrington’s birthday barbecue. While I didn’t have any plans of getting in the pool, I did have plans of being cute and confident in myself. When Carrington saw my swimsuit, she begged me to make matching swimsuits for her and her brother. She thought it would be a cute throwback to when they were little and their mother used to dress them alike.

My days were spent sewing and my nights were spent being stuffed full of the best dick I’d ever experienced.

The day of the barbecue dawned sunny and hot, but that was to be expected on the Fourth of July. It was the twins’ twenty-ninth birthday and even though some people suggested that she should wait until their thirtieth to do a huge soiree, Carrington had decided not to take their advice. She confided in me that it was an important birthday for her and Cameron, because it was the last one where she would be more connected to her twin than anyone else on earth. After she married Bryce, she felt like that designation of the person closest to her on earth would go to her husband. She wanted one last major celebration with her twin.

“Ay,” Carrington called over her shoulder giving Cameron, Bryce and me the evil eye, “move it! Once the rental company finishes setting up the tables and chairs, we have to get the tablecloths laid down. Let’s go!” She snapped her fingers.

Bryce jumped to attention and quickly followed her out of the sliding doors of the guest house. Cameron and I hung back.

“She’s gonna be on this drill sergeant shit all day. Bet money.” He pulled me into his arms as he complained.

I let him nuzzle his face in my neck. “She just wants to make sure that the party is good. I think she feels like it’s a dry run for how the wedding is gonna go.” My hands went to his head and rubbed it the way I knew that he liked.

“I don’t wanna be bothered. All I wanna do is take you in the back and—”

“Aht aht! None of that. We can do that later on tonight.”

“I told you some of my cousins are coming in from out of town. They’re gonna stay here. You’re gonna stay with me.”

“You sure? You know I can get a room.”

He nuzzled deeper, causing me to giggle. “Of course, I’m sure. You just promised me birthday pussy after this is over. You think I’m gonna let you renege?”

“I gave you birthday sex last night… and this morning.”

“Right, at my house. So why all of a sudden would I expect you to get a room? Actually, you can bring all of your shit and just stay at my house until I leave for training camp. You don’t even sleep here anymore. You sleep in my bed. The guest house is like a clothes closet for you.”

I loved going to sleep and waking up with Cameron.

“Me moving into the big house is not a very summer fling thing.”

“Yo, first of all, you’ve been there every single night since like… week three. Second of all, we’re both fully aware that we moved out of summer fling territory weeks ago. You’re my… summer woman now, Brooklyn. And as such, I’mma need you to get your shit right quick before my cousins get here and move it to my crib. Just pick a bedroom and put your shit in there, but your body… that’ll be in my bedroom.”

I fought to keep from grinning at the thought that he wanted me to stay in his house for the rest of the summer, but I lost the battle. “I don’t have time. Carrington expects me to help her with these last-minute touches.”

“I thought that was why she made me hire a party planner? What the hell is Tamera doing while Carrington does her job?”

I shrugged my shoulders.

“Get your stuff. Get your clothes, your toiletries, and whatever else you need on a daily basis. I’ll distract Carri while you grab your stuff.”

“Gimme a kiss.” I pulled his face down to mine.

Cameron attacked my mouth, kissing me deeply while palming the cheeks of my ass. My heart fluttered in my chest. I was playing a dangerous game with him. I knew I would regret it later, but I just couldn’t stop myself from falling or breaking away from him. Everything about him had me in a chokehold, and I apparently liked being choked.

By the time the party started at two o’clock, the temperature had risen to ninety-three degrees. People were arriving by the time I got back from picking up a few last-minute things from the grocery store at Carrington’s request. I dipped into the big house and took a quick shower before stepping into my custom bikini.

As pink had become my signature color of the summer, the fabric for both the bra top and bottoms was a hot pink base with baby blue and white seashells. The bra top was longline, coming down to the middle of my rib cage. The bottoms featured a micro miniskirt and were high waisted, coming to the bottom of my rib cage. The look was definitely demure, compared to what some of the others were wearing. It was also subtly sexy, which made me feel confident wearing it.

I brushed my curly hair into a neat ponytail, slapped on some waterproof deodorant and slathered on sunscreen. I finished the look with hoop earrings, matching colorful slides and my oversized square shades. I could’ve grabbed a sarong or some other cover-up, but since my bikini bottoms had a little skirt I opted against that.

Cameron’s sizable backyard had been transformed for the party. The grassy knoll—the lawn area that stood between the deck and the seashore—was dotted with tables and chairs for guests as well as buffet tables filled with chafing dishes, platters and cloches. The bar as well as the DJ booth were also situated in that area. It was the place to be if you needed a break from the sun’s strong rays, because everything was covered by shade-providing tents.

The side yard-- the area of lawn that led from the “big house” to the guest house was where a volleyball net, life-size Jenga and the bean bag toss had been set up. By the pool were umbrella covered square tables that I knew were set up for cards—Spades, Bid Whist and even Uno.

I stopped by one of the buffet tables, grabbed a paper bowl and filled it with chunks of juicy, fresh fruit before heading to the pool area where Carrington was holding court.

Cameron stood with a bevy of guys around him. They were all bare chested, but I really only noticed Cameron. The swim trunks I’d made for him-- white with orange and turquoise surfboards, hung easily from his slim waist. As I moved to pass by the group of three men, Cameron caught my arm stopping me. He dug a piece of watermelon from my bowl and popped it into his mouth before speaking.

“Ay, Antonio. Ay, Yusef.” He called his cousins by name while easily draping his long arm over my shoulder. “This is Brooklyn. She’s…”

Before he could finish he was interrupted. I hadn’t seen her in the vicinity before, but now she was standing in the midst of our circle.

“Are we doing introductions?” Tiara’s smile was bright and her string bikini was itty bitty. She had the body for it. I had to admit that while she was annoying, she looked good.

“Uh, yeah,” Cameron continued. “This is Tiara. Brooklyn and Tiara, this is Antonio, and this is Yusef.”

I gave both men a sweet smile and a small wave. “Hey, nice to meet you.”

While I was doing that, Tiara was doing her.

“Uhm, I’m a hugger.” She was so petite that when she went to hug Yusef she basically caught him around the waist and pressed her face into his stomach area. Antonio was clearly more ready for action. He bent down to meet her hug.

Cameron snagged one more piece of fruit from my bowl and popped it into his mouth. Tiara’s focus stayed on the fruit until it disappeared down his throat. She turned to me with a scowl.

Antonio chuckled. “Okay, my boy. I get it. This is whose fruit you’re eating and this is who wishes you were eating her fruit.”

I didn’t hang around to see how that conversation went. Instead, I made my way over to where Carrington and Nyrah were standing.

I ate so much food, laughed until my sides ached and posed for picture after picture after picture. I even partnered up with one of the twins’ cousins and won three rounds of rise-and-fly at the spades table. As far as I was concerned, Cameron and Carrington’s birthday party finale didn’t owe me nothing.

I was headed for the bar to request a bottle of water, when behind me a hand reached out and caught me by the bicep. I turned around and saw the cousin I’d just been playing spades with, Isaac.

“Ay, you ain’t bad on the table, lil mama.”

He caught up to me and matched my stride as I continued toward the bar.

I shrugged playfully and smirked. “Well, I’m from Chicago… the south side. You won’t survive on the block if you can’t at least play spades.”

“Oh, so you’re from Chicago? How’d you end up on Jackson Island?”

“Carrington. We were college roommates.”

We made it to the bar. There was a galvanized steel tub sitting on top of it filled with both ice and several varieties of bottled water—everything from sparkling to alkaline, to enhanced, to regular flat. I grabbed a bottle of basic water, twisted off the cap, and took a long guzzle. I could feel Isaac watching me, but I couldn’t imagine what would interest him about my drinking water. It wasn’t like I was deep throating a popsicle or munching on a banana.

“What are you doing on the island to pass time? It can be boring as hell out here in the sticks if you don’t know the right people.”

A small chortle escaped from me. “Then I must know the right people, because I’ve been having a good time.”

“What do you do?” He made himself comfortable leaning next to me up against the bar.

“I’m a seamstress; formal gowns are my specialty. Right now, I’m working on Carrington’s wedding gown.”

“What do you do when you’re not doing that? You should let me show you the sights. I’ll take you out to Charleston where I stay. I’ll take you out on my boat at night.” He looked me up and down with interest. “You seem like the type who likes romantic shit. Nothing’s more romantic than the water at night.”

Shit, he ain’t never lied . I thought to myself as images of what Cameron and I liked to do on his deck overlooking the water or being pelted by water at night played in my mind.

“My nights tend to be tied up.”

Isaac leaned into me taking one of my hands into his. “Free one up for me, shug. Come on, now. Don’t be stingy.”

I chuckled in spite of myself. Give up a night of letting Cameron knock the lining out of my coochie, possibly with big fat rain drops pelting our bare skin for the opportunity to see Charleston at night with Isaac? I didn’t think so.

Before I was able to restate my position about my nights being tied up, Cameron was there with Tiara, Carrington, and Nyrah in tow.

“Ay, fall back off her, cousin. If she says she ain’t interested… then she ain’t interested.”

“She didn’t say she wasn’t interested, twin.” Isaac smiled at his cousin. “She said her nights are tied up. I don’t need all of them. I just need one… for now.”

“Trust me, her nights are tied up. Tightly.”

A knowing look finally passed over Isaac’s face. He cracked a grin. He looked like a cartoon crocodile to me. Shifty and untrustworthy.

“Come on, twin. Sharing ain’t nothing new between us. Granny used to make us share all the time. You were never this stingy with… others.” His eyes skirted over to Tiara, who at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

Cameron caught the exchange. “Yo, if you and Tiara… spent time together, I don’t know nothing about that. I know about Brooklyn. And her I don’t play about. She’s that one. So find something safe to do. I don’t want Auntie hitting my line about why I beat the shit outta her baby boy.”

I kept my eyes planted firmly on the ground. I couldn’t believe they were going back and forth about me in front of me. I could hear titters and mumbling from Carrington, Nyrah, and I presumed even Tiara. Their utterances meshed with the swish of the butterfly wings that were fluttering inside my stomach.

Promptly at eight o’clock, the rental company arrived at Cameron’s house to collect the tables, chairs, tents, outdoor fans and furniture that belonged to them. Not long after, the caterers broke down both their food and bar setups, followed by the DJ breaking down his. The guests took longer to leave, but they finally did-- agreeing to pick up where they left off at Killer Bee’s .

Cameron and I went into his house. I let myself fall out on the sofa in his great room. I had never stepped foot in the room before. But with the way I was feeling, I didn’t have the stamina or wherewithal to try to figure something else out.

He walked into the kitchen, washed his hands at the sink, then grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator. When he realized that I was still sprawled out on the sofa he walked back into the space and peeked down at me. “You cool, lil mama?”

I watched his Adam’s apple bob as water coursed down his throat before replying. “I think I’m suffering from heat exhaustion. I know better than to spend so many hours in the sun.”

He placed the back of his hand on my forehead. “You’re clammy.”

“And sweaty, nauseous, and thirsty. Plus, I have a throbbing headache.”

He left the room without speaking. I lay completely still with my eyes closed-- willing my head and stomach to behave. After a minute or so, I felt the sensation of a cool towel being run over my forehead, then my neck.

I sighed in contentment. The water and the coolness felt good and on my skin.

My eyes were still closed, but I felt him reach under me and untie the back on my bikini top before undoing the hook and eye closures. The next thing I felt was the cool cloth against my chest, then my breasts. My eyes remained closed as I concentrated on the coolness of the rag and trying to bring my body temperature down. After a few more blissful passes of the cool cloth, I felt the warm wetness of Cameron’s mouth envelope my right breast. He suckled hungrily.

“Humh,” I moaned. “It feels so good, boo, but please. I’m so sweaty. I know I smell like outside. Let me take a cool shower and get some of this… grit off me.” It was so tough to make words when he was doing something so pleasurable.

He released my breast and backed off me. “You feeling better?”

“I still have a headache, but the nausea seems like it’s passing.” I paused before heaving out a sigh. “I was trying not to let it get to me. Some years, it doesn’t get to me. This year though… I feel like it is.”

“What’s getting to you?” He set the bowl of tepid water and the washcloth on the cocktail table.

“This Friday is my daddy’s birthday. His ninth birthday in heaven. Every year my grandparents throw a big family get together in his honor. My grandmother and my aunts cook a huge meal. We eat together, share memories of my father, then go down to the creek on my grandparents’ property. My uncle, who’s a pastor, says a prayer. After the prayer we do a balloon release. It’s very emotional, but it helps a lot to have family there—to have my grandparents there who miss their son as much as I miss my daddy. It’s like we exchange strength. When somebody is weak, somebody else is strong. We manage to hold each other up.” I took a breath. “It’s doubly hard for me, though. My parents’ birthdays were exactly one month apart. So right after I’m inundated with grieving my father, my mother’s day comes along.”

“Do you have a big get together with your maternal family, too?”

“No. My mom was an only child like me. She lost both of her parents like me. The only close family she had in this life were my dad and me. My grandmother, Big Red, loved my mom like her own daughter. She always makes it a point to celebrate my mom’s birthday when she celebrates my dad. The rest of my paternal family is only focused on celebrating my dad. I feel like my mom gets the short end of the stick.”

“Damn, I hate that,” he told me. Soon, the cool cloth was back on my forehead. “When are you leaving for…”

I chuckled because I knew he forgot. “Kentucky. Fenwick, Kentucky. I’m leaving Thursday night. I’ll be back Sunday evening, because I have to attend Sunday morning service at my uncle’s church.”

“You gonna be straight? You need me to go with you? Be a shoulder to lean on?”

My eyes flew open and crashed into his. Our eyes locked as we stared at each other silently, until tears started to fall from mine.

His eyebrows furrowed with concern. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“You offered to go home with me to be a shoulder to—”

He cut me off. “The nigga you were living with never offered to go with you? What did he do? Send you off to the airport with a kiss and a pat on the head? Like, ‘ There. There .’?”

“No, he would go with me. He was always present and accounted for when it was time to sit at my grandmother’s table and eat. But he always had an excuse as to why he couldn’t attend the balloon release or the church service. He said that death made him uncomfortable.”

“Death makes most people uncomfortable.” His head shook back and forth in disgust. “I don’t spend a lot of time talking shit about people I don’t know, but whoever this nigga is… he’s a bitch.”

“You don’t have to go with me. Thank you for offering, Cameron.”

Whoever said that it was the thought that counted must’ve been looking in my window. Cameron’s offer to support me during my father’s heavenly birthday celebration meant everything to me. I could feel that the wall I tried to put up around my heart was crumbling fast.

It was dumb for me to fall for Cameron for so many reasons. There was the fact that we’d only known each other for four weeks. Our relationship was basically built on sex. I recently ended a long-term relationship. We didn’t live in the same time-zone, let alone town. He was a professional basketball player who could have practically any woman he wanted. He was only messing around with me because it was a small town and the pickings were slim. Plus, I was hella local. I lived on his freaking property. I was convenient coochie.

I needed to do a better job of keeping my emotions under control.

The temperature in Fenwick was hot, but it was hotter inside of Big Red’s house than it was outside. She and my aunts were preparing the food for the celebratory dinner. Every burner on the stove was in use, as well as the oven. I had come out to the front porch to see if I could catch a breeze, but that was in vain. There was no breeze to be caught. The stillness of the air made me miss Jackson Island more than I already was. I missed the cool mist that would rise from the ocean, bringing with it oxygen-stealing humidity, but also a slight coolness.

My phone vibrated. I glanced at the screen. In my phone were hundreds of requests from people asking not only that I take them on as clients, but also that I bring my considerable talent back to social media.

They commented on the pictures of the cotillion and debutante dresses I made. They commented on the bright and colorful wardrobe of summer dresses that I had sewn for myself. They commented on the swimwear I created for myself, Carrington, and Cameron. But mostly, they commented on Cameron. On how cute we look together. On what a good job I’d done on his swim trunks. On how he was such a humongous step up from Vince’s unworthy ass.

Whenever I replied to a comment, I did so with nothing but positivity, diplomacy, and promises to consider taking on clients in the fall. I was almost positive that once I finished Carrington’s wedding gown, my “embarrassed, hiding girl” era would come to an end. I missed sewing. I missed clients. I missed social media. I was almost ready to put myself out there again.

Once I responded to all my social media comments, I sent a text to Cameron. I arrived in Kentucky the day before and settled in at my grandparents’ home. They put me in the same bedroom that I had after I lost my parents. I was away at college when they passed, but when I needed to leave campus for breaks and holidays, I had come to my grandparents’ home and stayed in the room they set up for me. But even though the bed was familiar, I didn’t get a good night’s sleep. I missed pressing up against Cameron. I missed the feel of his skin against mine-- the feel of his mouth against mine. If I was honest with myself, I also missed the feel of his luxury mattress and luxury bed linens. I definitely wanted to honor my daddy, but at the same time I couldn’t wait to get home.

Dinner was served at precisely seven o’clock. The food was set up buffet style. Because my daddy was a summer baby, born on July 9th, Big Red served summer food. There was barbecue, baked beans, potato salad, deviled eggs, macaroni salad, grilled corn, fried fish, hush puppies, cheese grits and a huge green salad. Personally, I was thankful not to have to eat a Thanksgiving style meal in the heat.

While I was dishing potato salad onto one of my uncle’s plates, a younger cousin came calling for me.

“Brooklyn! Brooklyn!”

I set down the spoon and met the child at the entrance of the kitchen. “I’m Brooklyn. What’s wrong, baby?”

The seven-year-old son of one of my cousins looked up at me. “There’s some man at the fence asking about you.”

“Some man at the fence?” I repeated his words with a confused frown on my face. “Who is it?”

He shrugged his slim shoulders. “I don’t know. My uncle, Logan, told me to come in here and get you.”

“Okay.” I let him go on toward the kitchen. I was sure he was ready to get a plate. Kids were low in the hierarchy, so they ate last. I wasn’t going to hold him up any longer.

I went out the front door careful to remember to pull it shut so I wouldn’t let my grandparents’ “good air” out and stared out at the fence. My heart was beating a little sporadically because I couldn’t help but wonder if Cameron had ignored my pleas and decided to show up in Fenwick after all. But the person standing at the fence wasn’t anywhere near as tall as Cameron. The person standing at the fence wasn’t Cameron.

“Vince?” The word was a whisper spoken with eyes bugged out, disbelief in my tone and my hand on my chest. “What the fuck?”

As I started down the stairs, he started up the walkway.

He was wearing a beige short-sleeved button-up with a cream-colored sleeveless cashmere vest, beige dress slacks, and beige driving loafers. And he looked like a lame. He literally looked like a fucking goofy. I wanted to laugh because it was hilarious to me how once you stopped feeling a dude, you could see him for who he really was. The rose-colored glasses were off, and I could see Vince. And what I saw wasn’t appealing.

“Hey, Brooklyn.” He gave me a timid smile.

I stopped on the middle step and returned his smile with a frown. My head tilted to the side as my eyebrows came together, forming a line in the center of my forehead. “What are you doing here?”

His little smile faltered, and he stopped walking toward me. “I looked at the calendar last weekend and realized that your dad’s birthday was coming up. I remembered how this day affects you.”

My arms went across my chest as I sat back on my right hip. “Oh did you now? You remembered that, huh?”

He started walking again and the smile returned. This time it was bigger. “I did. I think about you all of the time, Brookie. I—”

My eyebrows flew into my hairline. “Do not call me that. Do not call me that!” I met him in the walkway. “Does Kelly know you’re here? Does she know that you think about me all the time ?” I mocked him in a goofy-sounding tone.

“Kelly and I have decided to take a step back to get to know each other a little better. We kinda rushed into a relationship. There are some things we need to work out between us.”

I waved my hand dismissively. “I don’t care about all that, Vince. I asked if she knows you’re here. In Fenwick, at my grandparents’ house.”

“And I’m telling you that whether she knows or not is irrelevant. I came here because I know being here, celebrating your dad’s birthday is hard on you.”

I narrowed my eyes and watched him unflinchingly. “You should go back to Londynville. You shouldn’t be here.” I turned and headed back up the stairs. Thankfully, he didn’t follow.

“Is this about the NBA player that I keep seeing you with on social media? Carrington’s twin brother? I saw him promoting your business on his Instagram. I didn’t know you knew him.”

“Well, I didn’t… at first. Now, I know him intimately.” It was the gut-punch that I had been waiting to give Vince for years-- the thing that I hoped hurt him the way he hurt me.

He blinked rapidly taking a step back as if I had actually struck him. “It’s like that?”

“It’s like that,” I assured him.

“I guess I deserve that.”

I mumbled under my breath, “Guess?”

“I can admit that I was an asshole to you toward the end. I wasn’t very…” He seemed to search for the right words to use.

I helped him out. “Kind? Nice? Thoughtful? Respectful? Polite? Honorable? Upstanding?”

He chuckled. “Damn, you’ve been waiting a while to lay into me, huh?”

“Yep.” I agreed. “And now that I have, you should go.”

The screen door shut behind me with a loud bang. Soon, I heard the light pitter-patter of her house shoes and smelled the familiar scent of Happy perfume.

“Vince?” Big Red sounded as bewildered as I had been to see him standing there in her walkway.

“Hey, Mrs. Waverly.” His smile was bright.

“What in the world are you doing on my property, son? I know you didn’t come by here for—”

He interrupted her. “I’m sorry to show up unannounced. It’s just that I remembered that today is Mr. Waverly’s birthday. I know it’s always hard for Brooklyn. I just came to offer my support.”

The screen door opened and slammed shut once again.

“Offer your support?” It was my grandfather, Pop-Pop, doing the questioning this time. “The same support that had you pulling up to my wife’s table to eat her food, but pulling away from the balloon release and the memorial church service? That support? Because if that’s the same weak arse support you’re trying to bring, we don’t want it. Brooklyn doesn’t want it.”

“Sir,” Vince began, “I—”

Big Red cut him off. “Son, what could have ever driven you to show up here?” Her face mirrored the confusion she obviously felt. “When I left Londynville, I specifically told you that we wouldn’t see each other again on this side of glory. Did you not understand what I meant by that? I meant for you to stay away from my granddaughter. Did you honestly think that you could treat her so poorly and we would still welcome you into our home? Still encourage our granddaughter to entertain you? You took up with one of her clients, then let the girl drag my baby’s name on the social media, son. You refused to move out of the apartment and made Brooklyn a prisoner in the home where she paid half of the bills. Did you think I could overlook that?”

Vince looked stupefied, like it had never occurred to him that my grandmother didn’t fuck with him anymore.

“You know what made him show up here,” my busy-body cousin Endira said from where she stood on the porch next to Pop-Pop. I wasn’t even aware that she had come out with him. “He saw those pictures on Insta of Brooklyn with that fine NBA player, Cameron somebody or the other. They always want you back when you move on… especially when your new man is an upgrade. Come on, Brookie. Big Red put you a plate to the side. It’s probably getting cold.”

“Get out from in front of my house, little nigga,” I heard Pop-Pop say through gritted teeth.

“Go home,” Big Red seconded.