5. Garden Kisses #3
“Sodas, white breads, excess sugars, and snack cakes out of the box,” she made a yuck face. I nodded, making a mental note. “Let’s say grace.”
Jersei reached across the table and grabbed my hand. The same electric shock ran through my veins when her hands touched mine. She stumbled over the first few words of the prayer letting me know she felt it too.
“Amen.”
“Amen,” I repeated, but I was so caught up in the feeling that I missed the prayer. I had to ask the Lord to forgive me and pray on my own. My finger stroked the back of her hand twice before I released it. Jersei blushed.
As we ate, she explained more about fermentation and how making wine with her grandmother influenced her degrees. I’d heard of vegans, but never the process of growing everything. It was interesting, but I knew I wouldn’t be doing no shit like that.
“So,” she dragged, pursing her lips. “Was the video you sent payback for my accident?”
I smirked, biting into my wing. I took my time chewing before answering her question.
“Nah. Yours was an accident. I hit record knowing who the video was for. I’m a visual person, a visual learner.
Sending it was me hoping that you were too.
If there were any doubts as to how our night affected me, that was your proof.
You were my first thought, and I wanted you to feel what I felt,” I leaned back in my chair.
Jersei’s breathing changed. “So did you feel it, J?”
“I—I felt a lot of things. It was a really nice video,” she smirked, crossing one thigh over the other. I could hear the slight teasing in her tone.
My brow raised. “Nice huh?”
“Mhmm.”
I set my wing aside, raising my head a little. “Look at me and tell me how nice it was for you. Did you cum?”
Jersei’s lips parted and a slight gasp slipped out. “I uh—I.”
“It’s a yes or no answer, Miss J.”
Jersei shifted in her chair, whispering. “Twice.”
I chuckled lowly. “So, you are a visual learner?”
“I like to think that I am. I love a good artist, especially one who proves he can paint the whole picture,” she challenged, wiping her mouth on a napkin.
“I don’t paint outside the lines either,” I traced the corner of my mouth with my tongue. Our gazes locked, fueling the building desire that was on the brink of burning the fuck up. My want was increasing by the fucking second.
Jersei looked away with a blush. “Would you like to help me in my garden?”
My eyes slowly ran down her body then back up to her face. She shifted slightly in the chair. “Whatever you need.”
She tucked her lips to hide her blush then collected my plate. I watched her walk away and my dick bricked up watching her ass jiggle. Taking a few deep breaths, I calmed myself before following behind her. Jersei was making this shit hard on me, but I was fucking with rush she gave me.
What the fuck did I agree to? My respect for our ancestors skyrocketed.
They didn’t have a choice being in the fields for hours at a time, picking crops and cotton but we did.
Jersei and I had been outside in the hot ass sun for almost three hours.
I knew for a fact this wasn’t the same sun I used to like to play under as a kid.
A nigga was burning up, so much so that I’d come out of my shirt and changed into some basketball shorts I had in my gym bag in the truck.
Jersei had a smaller garden in her backyard with some vegetables like greens and peppers.
About an hour ago, we drove to an older house deeper in south Harvest Hills.
Jersei explained that this was her grandmother’s land and although it had been years since she passed, she kept her garden up and it showed.
Behind the gate was a large garden with some of the healthiest crops I’d seen in my life.
There were sweet potatoes, eggplants, beans, cucumbers, and even okra.
On the back row, there were large vines that you could see had been here for years and were full of grapes, both green and purple.
It was clear this was Jersei’s happy place from how she danced around the garden barefoot with a basket in her hand with music blasting. Shit, she even had me with one draped on my arm. Although it was hot as fuck, I was enjoying being in her world and more importantly spending time.
“Need you to remind me where I come from. Ground me when I’m tumbling, spiraling, plummetin’ down to earth. You keep me down to earth,” she sang, swinging her hips. “Lie to me and say my booty getting bigger even if it ain’t.”
I found myself studying her every move. It was typical to say that she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, but beauty wasn’t just in the physical.
Beauty was in the soul; in the way you carried yourself.
It was in the way a person could command a room the second they stepped into it.
Jersei had a light and on top of all that the pretty mutha’fucka was stacked from head to toe.
Her hair was thick and natural. I pictured waking up to the smells of whatever hair products she used in my nostrils and imagined how much I could grip in my hands when I was hitting her with deep strokes from the back.
It was supposed to be platonic but I’m a grown man with a hefty appetite and I needed the entrée of Jersei’s fine ass served on a glass fucking platter.
“Can I ask you something?” She interrupted my thinking.
I pulled the stems from the grapes then put them in the basket. “What’s up, J?”
“What’s the story behind your name? Did your mama have an obsession with vases or something? I’an ever met a nigga named after an object.”
I hollered. Jersei put her hands on her hips, but the shit was even funnier to me because she was genuinely concerned.
“Well for one, I appreciate you for asking and not teasing a nigga although I wouldn’t give a fuck no way.
But honestly, I’on know why she named me after a vase.
Niggas add an extra letter to a regular name and think they going down as a hero.
An extra letter does not make that shit more unique.
I wish I had a better answer for you, but I have no clue why my name is what it is.
I never asked ‘cause what the fuck I’ma do?
Change it? I accepted it, but I can only assume our daddy’s name started with a V. ”
Jersei’s smile faded. “You don’t know your dad?”
I shook my head. “Nah. Never bothered me either.”
“I didn’t know mine either. It’s like if you can miss out on somebody like me then, that’s on you nigga.”
“Facts.” I plucked more grapes. “So how long you been free?”
Jersei looked over her shoulder at me. “What do you mean?”
“From your situation with Zion’s father or any situation. Shit, let me rephrase that. What does your love life look like?”
Jersei’s movements slowed. She pulled another sweet potato up then turned in my direction.
She was drenched in sweat, so I took it upon myself to call a break.
Grabbing her hand in mine, I led her toward the water hose on the side of the house.
I hadn’t used the towel draped on my shoulder, so I turned the hose on, wet the towel, and pulled her closer to me.
I took my time patting her forehead, neck, and chest with the cool rag.
I could feel her looking up at me but each time I tried to make eye contact, she’d looked away.
“I appreciate this,” Jersei mumbled.
“I got you, J.” I wiped her forehead once more. “We ain’t got no water out here so your country ass gone have to drink out the hose.”
She laughed. “I’an think you know nothing about that, city boy.”
“Man, what? There wasn’t no running in and out. I wanted to stay outside and kick it with my niggas. To do that and not pass the fuck out, I was drinking out the hose,” I chuckled.
Like the old days, we took turns drinking out the water hose until we were satisfied.
Shit, we lived when we drank it back then, it would be no different now.
Jersei and I sat in a swing that was in the shade.
I reclined while she tucked her feet under her, angling her body toward me.
I started to swing us a little as I gave her my full attention.
Her large eyes looked off in the distance as though she were in deep thought.
When she started speaking, it confirmed my thinking.
“To answer you, it’s been seven months since I’ve been out of a relationship.
Before Solomon, I had like two boyfriends on some high school and just entering college type shit.
He wasn’t my first sexually, but he was the first man to show me something different and because of that I fell in love.
Then, I found out he was cheating on me with a man.
That man being his assistant who is also Zy’s God dad. ”
“Damn,” slipped out my lips. I wasn’t expecting her to say that. I figured he’d cheated but not under those circumstances.
“Damn is right, but I came out clean so praise the Lord,” she chuckled, folding her arms against her chest. “It hurt because everything changed. He was the breadwinner, and I was a stay-at-home mom. The second shit hit the fan; he threw it right in my face. That made me realize I didn’t have an identity, and it almost feels like that’s exactly what he wanted.
My anger and resentment made every feeling that I labeled as love fade away.
I questioned if I ever loved him at all.
He did a lot for me financially and was an amazing father to Zy, but the more I’ve reflected on it, I was getting love bombed, not loved. ”