Mr. Suit & Tie #2
Walking Simone down the aisle, giving her away to Raschad, and seeing my baby sister glowing from the inside out was enough for me. That moment would stay carved in me long after tonight.
Our father was still being a ghost, so it was my arm she held, and it was me who put her hand in Raschad’s.
I’d been the most important man in my sister’s life since she was twelve years old.
I signed permission slips, and report cards, and learned how to help her with her hair until she figured it out on her own.
I taught her how to drive, and stared down boys who came to our door for her, making sure they sweat.
And tonight I gave her away to a man who looks at her like she’s his entire world, and he promised to spend his life proving he’s worthy of her. My heart constricted and I knew if I stayed down in that crowd another minute, it was going to show on my face where people could see it.
The reception was packed: clinking glasses, emotions spilling everywhere like an open faucet. Not my thing. So I went upstairs and posted up on the second-floor balcony overlooking the ballroom. Drink in hand, letting the noise stay below me.
The air upstairs still carried the warmth of the ballroom, champagne, flowers, and too many bodies celebrating too hard. From up there, I could take it all in and keep a little distance.
That’s when I heard her voice.
“Mr. Suit and Tie hiding up here alone? Why am I not surprised?”
I didn’t even have to turn around. Alyssa.
Not the pixie this time. Tonight her hair was longer. A sleek bob, middle part, with highlights catching the light. Could’ve been hers, could’ve been bought; didn’t matter. She wore it like it had always been hers.
I looked over at her. “Didn’t know I was hiding. Is it a crime to want to be alone?”
“It’s not.” She walked up and set her forearms on the rail beside me, looking down at the floor instead of at me.
I kept my eyes on the floor below too, watching Simone laughing at something Raschad said in her ear, her eyes closed and her head tipped back as he kissed her cheek. The girl who used to fall asleep on my shoulder during thunderstorms was now somebody’s wife.
“She’s safe with him,” I said finally.
“She is.” Alyssa turned to look at me. “Raschad was raised by four sisters and a mother. He knows how to do right by a woman. You don’t have to worry, Julian.”
I looked over at her looking at me, and held her stare until she was the one who broke and looked away first. Silence stretched between us again, with the noise below filling the gap.
“Look… um… about the other week. At the field. I apologize. I came in hot.” Her mouth pressed tight, lips rubbing together in that same nervous tell I noticed that day. “I’m a single mom, and Micah and I— he’s all I got. I guess I can be overprotective. Sometimes it comes out wrong.”
I studied her, letting her words sit. An apology wasn’t something I’d expected.
“You made your point,” I said. “Didn’t exactly hold back.”
She chuckled, then lifted her chin. “Anyway, I didn’t want to leave it like that. And I also wanted to say...”
She paused, watching the dance floor below where Simone and Raschad swayed together, grinning like fools. “… that I get it. You're probably standing here half proud, half ready to fold because your baby sister just flew the nest. It’s bittersweet.”
I said nothing, but she'd read me right.
“You should be proud though,” she continued. “Simone’s happy. Raschad too. That didn’t happen by accident. From what Raschad has told us, you’ve done a hell of a job leading your family.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, so again, I said nothing.
“It’s the truth. She’s glowing down there because of the way you stepped up for her.
And Raschad?” She laughed quietly. “That boy worships the ground you walk on. Looks up to you like nobody’s business.
You could’ve made it hard for him. Instead you took him in, mentored him, treated him like family from day one.
Don’t think our family doesn’t see that. We do. And appreciate it.”
There was something about the way she said it, direct and clear, that pulled at me. Her eyes found mine again, unflinching. A foreign feeling passed through me in that moment, throwing me off. I shut it down quickly, clearing my throat.
“If I don't see you again before you head back to New Jersey,” I kept my tone neutral, “have a safe trip.”
Her lips curved, slyly. “Oh, you’ll see me again. I’m moving here. Just gotta head back to Jersey, wrap things up, and get our belongings. Then it’s Lennox Falls for good.”
That feeling I’d shut down flickered back up. Excitement? No, that was ridiculous. Anticipation? No. Curiosity. Maybe. I buried it again fast. Whatever the feeling was, it had no business being there.
She must’ve caught something in my expression, because she smiled wider, causing my heartbeat to jolt. “Relax, I won’t blow your cover. Your secret’s safe with me.”
My brow lifted. “What secret?”
“That you’re really a marshmallow heart in a CEO suit.” She winked, already stepping back toward the stairs. “Won’t tell a soul.”
Then she was gone, leaving me standing there, drink in hand, wondering what the hell that was.
The cake had just been cut and I found myself back at our table. Involuntarily, I glanced over at the adjacent table where Alyssa had taken her seat with her sisters. Despite my best efforts not to, I found myself watching for her most of the night. My family, of course, noticed.
Zion, sitting beside me, elbowed me and smirked. “So what'd she call you again? Mr. Corporate?”
“Don't start.”
“I’ll start,” Tre chimed in, leaning back in his chair. “'Mr. Suit and Tie,' that’s what she called him.”
Taryn nearly choked on her drink. “Wait—y'all talking about when Alyssa read Julian for filth on the foot—”
I shot her a look. “Eat your cake, T.”
“You’re not over it, huh?” Taryn pointed her fork at me. “Did y’all catch when she walked into the rehearsal dinner, in that green dress? This man caught his foot on absolutely nothing.”
“Almost went down in front of the open bar.” Zion shook his head, laughing.
“There was a step.”
“Julian. There was no step.”
“He’s been tracking all night.” Tre kept talking about me like I wasn’t sitting there. “She moves, his head moves. You’re a satellite, bruh.”
The three of them laughed, amused with themselves.
“Y’all don’t have anything better to do, other than annoy me?” I asked.
“Nope,” they said in unison, laughing like they were front row at a comedy show.
I shook my head, ignoring them, and took another sip of my drink, staring straight ahead. I lasted a song, maybe two, watching the dance floor, nursing my drink, politely nodding at guests passing by. Anywhere but at her.
Then she laughed.
The sound came from behind me, and it wasn't a light social laugh. It was a loud and sudden, up-from-her-diaphragm laugh, with no manners on it. It carried over the band and every other voice in the room. My head turned.
There she was, head tipped back, a hand on her chest, eyes shut, whatever her sister said to her leaving her completely undone. Shoulders shaking, teeth and all, not a piece of guard on her. The people around her leaned toward her like she was the warm part of the room.
Then she opened her eyes and caught me. She didn't look away, and neither did I. She smiled at me, and I nodded, before one of her sisters pulled her back into the conversation.
There was that feeling again. I sat with it for a moment, trying to pinpoint what it was.
Interest? Any man would find a bold and intelligent woman interesting, that's nothing new.
Attraction? Yes she was beautiful, I have eyes, that's nothing either.
It was something past both of those and I didn't have the word for it.
I kept searching for one and coming back empty, which never happened to me.
I could read a room in ten seconds. I couldn't read this.
What I did know was that multiple times now I'd decided to stop looking at her, and every time I'd looked anyway.
It bothered me how much I couldn't help it.