Chapter 9
Kenni
“You do realize that we didn’t need to stop again, right? We’ll be there in less than an hour, baby.”
“I know, but how do you pass up a Buc-ee’s and not stop?”
“Girl, get this slushie and head on out to the car. You ’bout to get some niggas fucked up in here if they keep eyeing that fat ass in those tiny shorts.”
I rolled my eyes and tugged at my shorts. Although I was petite, I definitely had curves. During the week, I always dressed professional in keeping with my career and the expectations. But on the weekend, I loved being free.
“I want some of those pecans, too, the ones with the glaze.”
“I gotcha, baby.”
I headed out to the car and hopped on my phone to select a new playlist. I loved being the passenger princess with Bryson.
It had been such a long time since we had traveled anywhere, and even those were flights.
We had only done one road trip before, and I was glad that we were taking the time out to do another one.
It wasn’t very far, just three hours from home to the North Georgia Mountains, but it was necessary.
I felt like we were in an odd place after discovering that we were both cheating, even if it was with one another.
We may not have physically cheated, but we did have an emotional affair.
If it had been with anyone other than me, and I discovered it, I would have been angry with him.
But it wasn’t, so I wasn’t. It seemed that he was dealing with the same emotions.
I still grappled with the fact that his crazy ass had literally hired someone to kill the man I was cheating with.
I knew that Bryse got into a lot and had his fingers in some questionable activities because of his clientele, but I never thought he would become involved with something like that and directly relate it to me.
“What are we listening to?” he asked, handing me the bag of glazed pecans.
“Thank you, baby. Wait until you see what I’ve queued up,” I replied, pressing play on my phone.
As soon as the beat came on, he glanced sideways at me and shook his head.
“What?” I asked, cackling as I started doing the Prep.
“If you don’t get your corny ass out of here with that shit.”
I turned the volume up and started rapping with Young MC. Bryson kept shaking his head as I sang the lyrics to “Bust A Move.” I reached in the backseat and grabbed the peach and cream blanket and threw it over my legs.
Bryson had the air on so that he didn’t get too hot, but it was getting a little too cool now that we were up in the mountains.
“What else did you buy?” I asked, peeping into the bag that he tucked into the console between us.
“Brisket sandwiches.”
“I’m going to have to get back in the gym after this trip. I see you’ve got plans to blow my diet out of the water.”
“Girl, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Are you cold?” he asked, casting a glance in my direction.
“You’re not?”
“Nah, it feels comfy to me.”
“You do know when we get higher in the mountains that it’s going to be colder? You can’t turn on the air in the cabin, or I’ll be sick,” I declared as he started rapping to D-Nice’s title anthem.
“I’m not interested in making you sick this weekend, baby. Trust me, I’ve waited far too long to have some quality time with you to think about getting you sick.”
Bryson reached over and linked our fingers together. I glanced down at them before I looked back up at him. I wondered if we would be successful at what we were trying to do.
A little over twenty minutes later, we arrived at Grace Gardens Bed & Breakfast. It was a little resort that had several log cabins all over the property and one main hotel. Bryson parked in front of the B&B, and we climbed out.
“The leaves are so colorful up here, Bryse. They look more vibrant than the autumn leaves in the city,” I declared, looking overhead at the trees that boasted radiant and glossy gold, bronze, and red leaves. They were magnificent.
“They do appear to be more colorful here than back home. But I’m sure that’s just because we’re so caught up there that we seldom pay attention to things like that anymore. We’re too busy rushing here and there.”
I smiled and replied, “I’m sure you’re right.”
“Aye, check it out, baby. There’s a lake down there.” He pointed behind me.
I spun around to see the silvery surface of the lake glimmering in the midday sun.
It was eerily beautiful in a way that I had never seen before in a lake.
I wanted to go check it out. There were already a few guests down there who were on boats and fishing.
“Do you think you’ll do any fishing while we’re here? ”
“I don’t know. I haven’t done that since my father passed,” he replied sadly with a thoughtful expression on his face.
“The air is amazing up here,” I marveled, stretching my arms and inhaling the fresh mountain air.
“It’s crisp and clean. If I could bottle this shit up and take it back to the city, I would.”
“Or we could move here,” I suggested, wiggling my eyebrows teasingly.
“No hell, your ass wouldn’t. You’re too much of a city girl, Kenni. You’d go stir crazy after a couple of weeks.”
I turned my lips down and nodded. “You’re probably right.”
“But it would be nice to have a vacation home up here that we could escape to now and then.”
“I like that idea. Are you proposing that we should?”
“It’s something to consider. Come on. Let’s head inside and see what this weekend brings. If we still feel the same way next weekend, then we’ll do it. After all, you were just about to leave my ass,” he replied snidely, taking my hand in his.
“And you were about to murder someone over me,” I replied.
He stopped and faced me. “Can we please agree to put that behind us and not have that conversation again?”
“Why? You feel differently now?”
“Hell nah. I still feel the same way. I’d do that shit a thousand times over, but I ain’t trying to have it broadcast to the world either.”
I nodded my agreement, and we headed inside just as his phone rang.
“Can you take care of the reservations while I get this?” he asked, frowning at his phone.
“Okay,” I replied as he stopped just inside the doorway to take the call.
“Hello, thank you for visiting Grace Gardens.”
“Hi, we have a reservation under Kennedi Barre,” I explained, handing the desk attendant my license and credit card.
“Thank you. Let me get you pulled up here.”
I turned my back to the desk and rested my elbows on it.
Bryson was still on his call, and he had his back to me.
I knew that it was probably another one of his clients.
As much as he complained about me not being available, that man was just as busy with work as I was.
The difference was that he was good at delegating tasks to his staff and prioritizing things in his life.
I wasn’t good at it yet, or more like I was terrified of doing that because I worried it would impact my career.
It had always been easier for me to work my butt off proving that I was the qualified candidate, the dedicated employee, the prospective match for the next promotion, and deserving of the highest salary increase when merit increases came around.
I had often placed work and familial relationships in the backseat in order to maintain my credibility.
It hadn’t started that way. But after getting passed over for a promotion at twenty-four because I wasn’t available to work late on a weekend on two separate occasions, I changed my flow.
Whenever the job needed me, I was there.
It became a point of contention between my ex-boyfriend, Brent, and me.
After six months of that, the wedding plans we had made were discarded, and I found myself alone in my almost empty apartment after work one night when I arrived.
All he left me was a Dear Joan note, stating that he couldn’t do it anymore. He said that it felt like he was alone in the relationship, and while he tried to wait until I came home to have the conversation, he had been waiting for two months, and the opportunity never presented itself.
I was devastated and heartbroken. Rather than chasing after him and trying to make up with him, I buried myself deeper into my career, allowing it to be a balm to heal my broken heart.
Three years later, I met Bryson, and we butted heads in the beginning.
After our first date, we immediately connected.
Our passion was fire, the chemistry was off the charts, and we found ourselves screwing every chance that we had, wherever we were.
It was hot and heavy like that for the first two years.
We bought a home together, and in the third year, we settled into who we were, but we were still passionate.
This last year, things fell off. I felt like it was because he wanted to maintain the same level of commitment to his career, but he didn’t want me to.
I set out to prove that I could handle it just like he could, only I’d failed miserably.
“Here’s your key card to the cabin and a stack of brochures that tell about all the amenities that we offer here.”
“Are there any restaurants up here aside from the ones on the property?” I asked her as I heard Bryson coming up behind me.
“No. It’s just the resort. Nothing is close to here for another twenty miles.”
“Well, thanks anyway.”
“Thank you both for coming to stay with us. Please let us know if there’s anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable while you’re here,” she stated as she turned and headed through an office door just as more guests arrived.
I turned and saw an odd expression on Bryson’s face. “You okay, baby?”
“Uh, . . . yeah, I’m good. Come on.”