Jaheim #2
She smiled softly to herself before continuing.
“Then my daddy and Aunt Roya took it over. When I came back, he gave it to me.” Her fingers traced the stem of her wine glass. “I don’t know who I’ll pass it to.”
Her eyes lifted to mine for a second before drifting back toward the skyline.
I caught it anyway. The sadness. The longing. The ache underneath the sentence.
It hit me hard because all I wanted to do was fix it for her. The problem was, this wasn’t the kind of hurt I could solve with my hands.
“You love it, don’t you?”
“I do.” She nodded slowly. “I think history and roots are beautiful things. I left Bloomington thinking I was supposed to find a better version of myself somewhere else. Coming back taught me I didn’t need to become somebody new. I just needed to get back to myself.”
I loved that she wasn’t just proud of where she came from but that she had finally made peace with it too.
The rest of the night took us down an easier road.
Our food arrived and we kept the vibes going sharing jokes and random shit about herself.
Liana was left-handed. She loved baseball, the show COPS, gardening, and Zumba at the church if she woke up early enough.
“I can be a night owl. Especially if I’m reading a good ass book.”
“What are you reading now?”
“Something I probably shouldn’t tell you about on a first date.” She pointed her fork at me. “Your turn. How did you get here? Not Bloomington. Here.” She gestured between us and then clarified. “Successful. Stable. After everything you went through at twelve. That’s not a small thing to overcome.”
I chewed and thought about how to answer that honestly without making it heavier than the night called for.
“Rex,” I said. “My neighbor. He gave me somewhere to put all that energy when I didn’t have anywhere else to put it. Beau’s mama took me in for a while before she passed. Then it was me and Beau tryna make it. He went to the league, and I explored my talents.”
“So strong and wise.”
“I was strong because I had to be.” I turned my glass. “I put my pain somewhere. The work, the women I help, Beau, getting out of Alabama, and honoring my mom.” I looked up. “She would’ve liked Bloomington. She would’ve liked you.”
Liana set her fork down.
“She would’ve liked me? Odeal’s mom hated me up until the day she died.”
“Well, fuck her. She liked real women. Women who knew who they were and didn’t apologize for it.” I shrugged. “She was one herself.”
Liana reached across the table and covered my hand the same way I had covered hers earlier.
Right on cue, the waiters came out carrying dessert and a large bouquet of red roses. She was smiling and giggling as they set them in front of her.
“Jaheim, these are so beautiful.”
“Before you say anything, I ordered those before we even sat down. Had nothing to do with the conversation.” I leaned back in my chair. “You deserve flowers on a first date. That’s facts.”
She pulled one rose from the bouquet and turned it slowly between her fingers, but the look on her face still carried some of the heaviness from earlier.
I remembered the other surprise then.
“Aht.” I reached into my pocket. “And before you start overthinking again, I got this for you before our little hiccup.”
Her eyes lifted to mine cautiously. “Still doing too much.”
“Relax, Bloom.” I slid the small black box across the table. “It’s not a proposal.”
That got a laugh out of her finally.
She opened the box slowly and gasped.
“Where did you even get this? It’s so pretty, it’s perfect… It’s me.”
The bracelet was gold, delicate vines twisting around each other with tiny leaves worked into the design like they were still growing.
“Clover made it,” I said, watching her face carefully. “I wanted to get you something that no one else can say they have.”
Her fingers brushed over the bracelet gently.
“I love it, Jaheim. Put it on me.”
She extended her wrist toward me. I placed the bracelet on her wrist and gave it a soft kiss. “It’s beautiful on you.”
“I don’t want to go back to Bloomington tonight,” she confessed.
“We don’t have to,” I said. “I’ll take you anywhere you wanna go. Do anything you wanna do. I’m your puppet.”
She looked up. “You planned for that too, didn’t you?”
“I’m always prepared, bloom. You know that.”
She shook her head, laughing, put the rose back in the bouquet, and picked up her dessert fork. I flagged the waiter down to handle the ticket as she dug into a Tuxedo cake that she clearly wanted more of.
“Can I get a whole cake? I’ll pay double.”
“Jaheim, be serious. I don’t need a whole cake.”
“Yes, we do.”
She caught my meaning and grinned. “On second thought, yes we do.”
They boxed up the rest. I left a tip that made the server’s night and walked out of Meridian with roses in one hand, a to-go box in the other, and Liana’s fingers laced through mine.
Coupeville was finally giving her memories that didn’t hurt, and I intended to make sure she left with even more of them before the night was over.
The hotel was two blocks away. I damn near jogged the whole distance ready to get her out of that perfectly fitted dress.
The night had already been perfect.
I still wasn’t finished with her yet.