Baby

Harlem

CHANGE OF PLANS – TWO WEEKS LATER

“Thanks for the tip, Shakes,” I stated to my customer as my phone chimed with the money app alert.

“Always, black man. Not only do you hook a brother up, but you school me on game every time I sit in your chair.”

“Just doing my job, big homie. Just doing my job,” I declared, dapping up the big guy as he got out of my chair.

Whenever Shakes came in, he tipped me 45 percent of the listed price, but I didn’t charge him the full price. I hadn’t in a long while. He was one of my first customers when I opened my shop, and I appreciated him and his loyalty. He also brought new customers along with him.

I cleaned up my station as the low buzz of chatter happened all around me.

“I’ll be back, y’all,” I announced, heading for the doorway after I washed my hands.

“Going to see wifey?” JC called out.

I sucked my teeth, smirked, and left out of the shop to whistles and jeers. I didn’t mind, because I was all about her like that, and being all up in her space was exactly what I wanted.

Her launch party two weeks ago was a success, but it paled in comparison to her grand opening one week ago. People had turned out in droves. Not only had many of the people who received invitations for the launch party returned; those who weren’t invited the first time made sure they showed up.

As a result, her line went around the corner and down the block. We were all excited for her, and I had even hired a few people from the neighborhood to help by walking down the line and taking orders on iPads so that they could be prepared in advance.

Her large turnout did wonders for all the other businesses on the block. Everyone talked about their increase in sales, not only that day but for the rest of the week.

She had been busy nonstop since her opening, so we hadn’t had much time to spend together except for late at night.

I would hang around to follow her home in the evenings, order dinner, eat, and massage her feet.

By the time I finished, she would be knocked out on the couch with her feet in my lap.

I often carried her to her room and put her to bed.

She would have already showered and put on her nightclothes while waiting for dinner to arrive.

I would ease out of her house around one or two, locking up behind myself and heading home for the night.

I would always have her coffee and breakfast sent over the next morning because I knew that she didn’t have time to get it herself.

She would be in her bakery before the coffee shop opened, and once she started, she didn’t have time to stop.

I put in a standing order at the bakery and paid them to deliver it to her.

It was always hard to leave her, when I knew that I wanted to stay.

Our relationship hadn’t gone beyond kissing yet, and I wasn’t willing to force her to do anything that she wasn’t ready for.

But I couldn’t lie; I wanted her badly, and I could tell that she wanted me too.

She just needed to be sure that she was ready.

I jogged across the street and pulled the bakery door open. The bell overhead tinkled, and I could hear Chris Perry singing over the speakers about “Another Love.”

The tables were all taken, and there was a line at the counter. Both of her sales assistants were taking orders, and she was at the third register taking orders also.

Her face lit up when she saw me, and she couldn’t stop cheesing. I waited for a few minutes while she worked with the other two ladies to clear the line up. When it was down to just a few people, she walked over to where I sat at the long bench table in front of the window.

“Hey, how’s it going?” she asked, plopping down on a stool beside me.

“Everything is everything. You’re still doing pretty well, I see.”

“Yeah, busy as always.” There was a smile on her face and joy in her voice.

“Have you had time for lunch?” I asked.

“I ate some of that pasta that you ordered last night. It was delicious. Thanks for breakfast this morning again.”

“Always.”

“I’ve been trying to wait for a break in the flow of customers so that I could come over and thank you, Harlem.”

“For?”

“The way that you’ve been taking care of me since the opening of my shop, even before that.”

“It’s no problem. I told you that it was going to get crazy busy like this once you opened.” I glanced at her neck, and I saw that she was wearing the necklace that I bought her the day of her launch party. “It looks good on you.”

She fingered the necklace and smiled even brighter. “Thank you for this too. It’s not only beautiful, but it must really have superpowers stored inside because I can’t make it through a day without it.”

“Nah, you’re the superpower, Baby.”

“I doubt that.”

“Trust me. No other woman has ever had the power to bring me to my knees the way that you do. How I come for you, applying the pressure that I do, it’s nothing but that superpower inside of you drawing me in,” I replied with a wink.

“Speaking of superpower, can I take you out for dinner? I haven’t had a chance to properly thank you for all that you’ve done for me.

You made sure I got my permit, held my hand through the storm, bought this necklace, and sent my breakfast and coffee to me daily.

If that’s not enough, you follow me home every night to make sure that I got there safely, feed me dinner, and put me to bed.

You’re chef’s kiss when it comes to a welcoming committee. ”

I laughed. “I would be honored for you to take me out. Although you don’t seem to catch a break.”

“I’m actually leaving early today. I have plans to get out of here by five so that I can go home, shower, change, and I’ll be picking you up.”

“Nah, I don’t like the idea of you riding back home so late by yourself.”

“I’ll be fine, Harlem.”

“I’m sure you will, but that’s not the man that I am.”

“Please. Just this one time, let me do this for you.”

I sighed and thought about it. The petulant frown on her lips and the pleading look in her eyes made it difficult for me to say no.

“A’ight, but here’s the deal. If you insist on picking me up and bringing me home, you have to bring an overnight bag.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re not driving home alone late at night. I don’t care what you say.”

She sighed.

“That’s the deal. Take it or leave it,” I declared.

“Fine.”

“Cool. Where are you taking me?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out, sir.”

I chuckled and caressed her cheek. “Okay. I see you.”

“I hope so.” She beamed brightly at me.

“I’ma let you get back to work. I have an appointment that I have to head out for. So, what time are you flowing through to pick me up?”

“About six thirty.”

“That’s wassup. I’ll text you my address.”

“Okay, bye.”

“Bye, beautiful,” I replied with a wink.

It was hard as hell to keep my lips to myself, but she was big on professionalism, and I respected that. I had already slipped into the habit of calling her “Baby” as her nickname more frequently than she may have been comfortable with, but she hadn’t checked me on it yet.

“Where else can we go? I want someplace nice, but you have to have reservations for most places,” Tegan declared.

I knew that she was disappointed, but she was trying to stay positive. We had gone to the place that she wanted to take me, but they had a small kitchen fire, and all reservations were cancelled.

“Let’s go to Rose on the River.”

“But it’s Indian.”

“I know. Don’t you like Indian food, Baby?” I asked, reaching over and touching her wrist.

She turned her soft gaze on me and smiled. Although she had driven to my place, I insisted on driving. We hopped into my Land Cruiser and rolled out. She pretended to pout, but she didn’t put up much of an argument. I sensed that she enjoyed a man taking charge.

“Yes, I like Indian, but this is your day. You like Mexican and soul food. The Mexican place was closed; we should be able to find a nice soul food place.”

“I can get that anytime. You love Indian, so let’s go there.”

“Okay,” she whispered.

I drove away from the restaurant that she had chosen, and she was initially quiet for a while. She would respond if I asked her questions, but other than that, she wasn’t talking.

I did most of the talking, and the more that I talked, the more she let her guard down. “Light Up the Night” by Bleu Harmony came on, and I turned it up a little and sang along with it. Tegan smiled and sang along too. When it ended, she stared at me with a curious smile.

“You never cease to amaze me.”

“What’s that?” I asked.

“I didn’t know you were into that type of music.”

“Yeah, Bleu Harmony is my girl,” I replied happily.

“I love Bleu, Chris Perry, and Keith G.”

“I like them, too, but Solemn, Shawni Palmer, and Chablis are my favorites,” I confessed.

“How about Red Groove?” she asked.

“They’re my go to choice for jazz, but at the end of the day, Chris is my favorite artist.”

“Mine too. I’ve seen him and Shawni in concert.”

“Same, last year.”

“I was there!” she exclaimed excitedly.

“They definitely put on a performance. Tickets were expensive as hell, but they were worth it.”

We pulled up to the dock and headed up the plank to the boat. She looked a little nervous, and I grabbed her hand to rub it, hoping to soothe her nerves.

“Are you afraid of being on a boat?” I asked as we stopped at the ma?tre d’ station.

“No, I’m fine.”

I nodded and greeted the ma?tre d’ who knew me personally. He led us to our table, and we placed our orders before we resumed our conversation.

“What does the world’s greatest barber like to do in his spare time when he’s not being my bodyguard?”

I chuckled. “Ahh, I like that title. To answer your question, I jog and play softball for exercise, I love to go off-roading, and traveling is my jam.”

“Off-roading . . . that’s unique.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot of fun, though. We’ll have to go together some time.”

“I’d like that. Where have you traveled to?”

“All fifty states, Jamaica, Spain, Curacao, Bimini, England, Aruba, Grenada, Cayman Islands, Saint Lucia, and Scotland.”

“Scotland? That’s different.”

“High school trip. That’s how I got to England and Spain too. The others were places I traveled to after I became an adult. The fifty states and Jamaica were with my parents.”

“That’s pretty cool. I’ve only traveled to thirty-one of the fifty states. International travel, I’ve only been to Bora-Bora, Santorini, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Brazil. I would like to see Saint Kitts and Nevis, speaking of the Caribbean.”

I made a mental note to take her to Saint Kitts and Nevis. We were served and talked about how delicious the food was, and other menial things like how her business was doing. When we finished, I paid the tab, to her surprise and despite the arguments she made.

After dinner, we exited the yacht and walked down Main Street toward the waterfall at the end of the street.

“I met your brothers at the launch party, they seemed pretty protective of you.”

“They are. I was spoiled as a kid, but they protected me too. They’re the reason that I have the name Baby.

They couldn’t pronounce Tegan when I was born, so they just called me Baby.

After they grew older, they kept calling me that, it stuck, and my family and friends started doing the same.

What about you? You said that you have two siblings, right? ”

“Yeah. My older brother, CJ, and my younger sister, Courtney, who you already met.”

“So, you’re the middle child?”

“Yep, and the baby brother. It made for some interesting dynamics at times, but I wouldn’t trade them for the world. I’m pretty close to my siblings, and I could tell that you are too.”

She nodded. “Family is important to me. When I have kids, I want them to be close to their siblings as they grow up too. Harlem, thank you for tonight,” she stated, changing the subject.

“I was supposed to be treating you, but you took over. You’re an excellent leader of the welcoming committee,” she pronounced with a wink.

We were standing in front of the waterfalls. I took her hands in mine, and I stared into her eyes as I professed, “I’d like to be so much more than that. I know that we’ve been kind of moving around each other, and you’ve opened up to me, but I want you to open completely to me.”

She stared at me, but she remained quiet for so long that I wondered if she heard me.

“Are you good?”

She blinked, nodded, and replied, “Yes.”

“I noticed you were quiet when we pulled up to the restaurant, and it took a minute for you to come out of your shell, and then you were quiet again after I paid and again now. What’s up with that?”

“Tonight made me think about my ex, unfortunately. I promised myself that I wouldn’t compare you to him, but it was a little harder than I thought it might be.

I told you how he started out doing nice things for me, and then he switched up.

He always expected me to pay for everything and would choose the most expensive places to go.

“He used me until the end. When I no longer had a job and couldn’t afford to pay for anything, we argued all the time.

I was reminded of that when we went to Rose on the River tonight.

After what I went through with him, I’ve often questioned if I’m a good judge of character.

We’ve grown close, and I’m enjoying it. I’m scared to mess this up. ”

“Baby, I promise you that I’m not that guy, and I would never treat you that way.

You’re too precious and too deserving of all the best things in life.

I respect your view, though, but I would still like for you to give us a shot.

We can take it slow, but I want to be your man.

I’m not trying to see you in these streets dating some other nigga or even see any niggas in your face.

I’m not interested in nobody else but you. ”

“I want the same thing you do, Harlem, but please be careful with my heart because it’s fragile. I’m not certain I will survive another blow.”

“I promise you that I will take extra care with you and your heart, Baby.”

I lowered my lips to hers and kissed her gently as the mist from the waterfall sprayed us. We were standing on the side where the wind wasn’t blowing to avoid the mist, so it caught us by surprise, but didn’t stop our kiss.

Deep inside, I thought that little mist was a sign from my grandfather that I was finally on the right path in life. I refused to mess things up with Baby. I would rather rip out my own heart than cause a minor bruise to hers.