Chapter 8 | Spirit | March 25
Jace held my hand as we met his daughter at a popular brunch spot. “Relax, she’ll love you.”
“Telling your mother that we’re dating was so much easier than this because she’s always known me. I know how important your daughter is to you, and if she doesn’t like me, then what?” I pulled down my sundress. Today couldn’t be a more perfect day for brunch. It was a cool, bright day before the sweltering humidity and heat of the approaching summer.
“Stop fidgeting.” He sounded irritated, and I glanced at him. I couldn’t see his eyes because he wore shades. His jaw clenched for a second. Jace was nervous, too, and suddenly I wasn’t anymore. How could you not love a man more who cared what his daughter thought about the woman in his life?
I kissed his cheek, and he looked down at me with a furrowed brow. “Just because.”
He grabbed my chin and smacked my lips loudly. “Just because.”
We gazed into each other’s eyes, and I marveled as I had during the past month, that maybe I hadn’t met my husband because Jace was always supposed to be him. We were apart to grow as individuals before coming back together years later. Although we still argued about the restaurant, it was more of a disagreement than the tension we’d had before when we differed. Now, when I rolled my eyes, if we were alone, he immediately stopped everything to fuck me. If we were around staff or construction workers, he would make excuses to get me alone to fuck.
My parents and Trinity couldn’t be happier when I told them that Jace and I had become a couple. Trinity bragged that she’d been right when I told her that my feelings for him had been reciprocated even back then. They would all be at the grand re-opening, though I hadn’t yet told my Baptist, three-days-a-week church-going parents about the cannabis-infused menu. I also hadn’t told Jace that my parents didn’t know about all the major changes, especially since I won the argument about keeping my name in the new restaurant.
“Oh my God, please don’t say you’re that couple,” A voice commented behind us.
We turned around and saw a chocolate brown woman with her father’s wavy hair, which she wore naturally in a big puff. She had his hair and sparkly eyes, was a little taller than me, and had a figure I’m sure she displayed when she wasn’t around her father. She wore a flowing maxi dress, flat sparkly sandals with a Birkin bag on her arms, and Dolce and Gabbana Shades propped on her head.
Her face brightened when her father opened his arms. “Hey, Daddy.”
“Hey, Pumpkin.” He replied. When he pulled back, he smiled at me. “This is Spirit.”
She opened her arms. “My daddy taught me to give hugs to family.”
I hugged her tightly, already a kinship forming. “Your daddy brags about you all the time.”
“Really... because he can’t seem to stop talking about his childhood crush.”
A blushing Jace grabbed my hand. “Can we sit, please? People are staring at us.”
“That would be you, Daddy. No one cares about us, mere peons. Something I’m used to now.” We started walking toward the back of the restaurant to the private room he reserved for us. “People will walk up to him while he’s with me and not say anything to me. When I was a kid, they thought I was adorable. Now, I’m just the annoying grown daughter or his young plaything.”
“I’ve already encountered that. I prefer the background anyway.”
“Good, because his past women love the spotlight, including my mother.” She wrinkled her nose. “Speaking of one of them. One is headed this way. She’s such a Prima Donna Bitch.”
Jace barked, “Watch your mouth.”
She whined, “Daddy, your mouth is worse than mine.”
“I also have enough common sense not to do it around my parents.”
As we approached the private room, a shapely, bronze-skinned woman walked briskly in our direction. Jace’s hand tightened on mine. He nodded. “Alexis.”
She pulled her shades off. “Can I see you for a moment alone?”
“I’m with my family.” He lifted our clasped hands, and her breathing increased.
“I’ll make a scene.”
His daughter stepped forward, and Jace gently placed his hand on her waist, stopping her. He calmly said, “Give me a moment. I need to make sure my woman and daughter are good.”
Jace led us to a dining table, held the chair out for both of us and waited until we were seated. He bent to kiss me softly on the lips. “Hazard of dating me. I won’t ever do anything that’ll embarrass you or make you regret choosing me. I’ll be back. Order Mimosas for the table.”
I watched as he strode back out of the room, and the woman followed him outside the restaurant with watchful and gossiping eyes. I sighed. Although he didn’t have the type of fame we couldn’t go places freely, he was recognized enough to be stopped for selfies and autographs when we were out on a date or shopping for the restaurant.
“Does that happen a lot?” I asked.
“Not really. At least not as much as when I was younger. My parents argued a lot even after the divorce because of other women.” She looked at me. “I’m not quiet at all and speak my mind. You have to be a strong woman to be with my dad. He loves you and wants to be with you. But he’s afraid you’ll break his heart.”
“Why would I do that when I’ve loved him my whole life, and that won’t ever change.”
She shrugged. “Just telling you what I know.”
“He tells you everything?”
She arched a sculpted brow. “Almost everything. When he first retired, he struggled. I found him passed out in his place, and that scared me. I moved in with him and watched over him until he seemed to accept he was more than a football player. He finally listened and got some medical treatment for the severe pains in his legs and shoulders. We started sharing our lives as he healed and began to see me as an adult and not just his baby. I love my father. He hadn’t always done right by women, but he’s always done right by me, and I stand for him.”
“So, I shouldn’t be concerned with Alexis?”
She picked up one of the complimentary biscuits on the table. “Not at all. He’s only entertaining her because she would make a scene. He dated her a while back and never formally introduced us if that’s what you think.” She opened her biscuit with a knife to add butter. “You’re the first woman he’s intentionally made sure I met. I suggest you don’t question him about her, and you’ll be fine.”
I thought about what he said in Vegas when I asked him about meeting women at MJ’s Club and how he instantly became defensive. He’d been dealing with the opposite sex since we were children. A man with his looks and charm automatically attracted women, not to mention his athleticism. He was bound to be a chick magnet. In the world of mating, women instinctively want the man who can best provide and protect her. And with a name like Jace Legend, he was destined to be the center of attraction and attention. I would heed her advice and not ask him anything. I needed to show him that I trusted him.
The waiter had just brought a glass pitcher of mango mimosas when he returned to the table, taking off his shades, ready to apologize. I simply patted the chair next to me. “Come on, let’s enjoy.”
“It won’t happen again.”
“Okay. Now sit and look at this menu,” I insisted.
He blinked several times before he looked at his daughter, who chomped on her biscuit like we’d never been interrupted before he eased into the chair. “Pumpkin, you should follow us when we leave here and see the restaurant.”
I agreed. “It’s getting prettier by the moment. We were worried that the renovations wouldn’t be done on time. It looks like we may be ready as planned or delayed by a couple of days.”
She grinned, looking more like her uncle, Langston. “Bet you don’t realize everything is ‘we’ now.”
Jace and I looked at each other. His eyes softened, and he said, “I did notice. Thank you.”
I nodded and touched his hand, which rested on the table. “Can we figure out what we want to eat? I heard they have the best grits.”