Chapter 12
I’d been sitting here watching this woman talk on the phone with her daughter for the past thirty minutes, and I still couldn’t believe that it was her that was writing me those letters.
For the past few days, we’ve been really having some meaningful conversations and just getting to know one another.
It was so crazy that we shared the same birthday, but I’m thirty-two and she’s thirty.
What are the odds of that? We were sitting here having dinner up in my suite at The Luxe.
I talked her into coming to spend some time with me here at the hotel so that we could have some uninterrupted private time.
I had two bedrooms, so she took the spare bedroom.
“Okay, Hanii. We’re getting ready to go out and get dinner. I will see you tomorrow, love bug.” She smiled into the phone.
“Mmmkkk. What are you going to eat?” She questioned her.
“Steak.”
“What’s that taste like?” Tahanii asked.
“It’s good.” Forever chuckled.
“One day I’ll try a steak.” Tahanii seemed to really be into the steak conversation. So, I eased into the conversation, sitting by her mom so that I could see her on FaceTime.
“Hey, Butterfly.” I smiled at her.
“Hey, Boyfriend.” I laughed because she was so stuck on calling me that.
“Butterfly, we’re gonna have to find a new name for you to call me.”
“But that’s your name.”
I chuckled. “Actually, my name is Legacy.”
“I like boyfriend better.” She was serious as hell, and I fell out laughing.
“Okay, baby. You wanna go eat steak with me and Mommy?”
“Yessssss. I miss you and mommy,” she said, and that shit instantly did something to me.
“We’re coming to get you, Butterfly. Let Aunt Jaz know.”
“Okayyy. Auntie Jaz, the love birds are picking me up,” Tahanii yelled then hung up.
Forever’s hands flew over her face. I was fine with whatever title baby girl decided to give me, as long as she was comfortable and good with it.
I wasn’t sure what clicked inside of me, but I was willing to do whatever I could for them.
They had me thinking longevity wise about the future and whatnot, something I never did.
Being in a relationship or even just committing to one woman in general had never crossed my mind.
However, something about Forever pulled me in deeper and wouldn’t allow me to walk away.
To be honest, she had me in my feelings way before she even told me of her illness.
So, it wasn’t pity that had me stuck. The feelings that she pulled out of me with just her words, then her being vulnerable enough to act on them said and meant a lot.
On some real shit, I was feeling shorty when I was staying at the hotel; I just didn’t act on it, but since my lil private stalker decided to play secret admirer, I was about to publicly admire her.
“She is a mess.” Forever shook her head. “But are you sure you want to pick her up tonight? She comes home tomorrow anyway.”
“Yes, I’m fine with it. I want to spend time with her as well.” I pulled her up for a hug.
“Thank you. I appreciate you spending time with me and taking time with my baby girl. She’s so outgoing, but a sweetheart.
I love her to life. Tahanii is so smart, and I’m so proud of her.
They actually tested her when she was moving up to first grade, and she was on a third-grade level.
They wanted to have her skip two grades, but I wanted her around kids her own age, so I would only let them move her up to second grade but that was back then.
She’s in the fourth grade now, and you would think that she’s getting ready to graduate high school,” Forever laughed.
“But no, seriously, that’s why she’s so advanced.
Hanii can name every designer bag there is, and every car on the road she can tell you the make and model.
” She smiled like a true proud mother. I’d seen that smile on my own mom.
“That’s amazing, she’s a very special butterfly,” I told her.
She nodded. “That’s a such a cute nickname that you gave her.”
“Yep. I’m Boyfriend, and she’s Butterfly.” I smirked, and she rolled her eyes.
“Don’t be jealous, girl, you too old for that.” I pinched her cheek and we got ourselves together for dinner.
Every minute I spent with Forever made me want to wrap her in my arms and fuck the shit out of her. Trust, old me would’ve done just that, but she was different and a more delicate flower, so giving her the respect that she deserved was only right.
“What steakhouse would you like to go to?” I asked her.
“I’m not sure. Outback is cool I guess.” She shrugged and I fell out laughing.
“Come on now. A real steak.”
She immediately frowned. “What! That’s a real steak.” She looked confused as hell.
I glanced in her direction, trying to stop laughing. “Like steakhouse steak.”
“Yes, I know. That’s why I said Outback.”
The way I laughed should’ve been studied. I had never laughed so damn hard in my life and she was almost offended.
“Outback isn’t a bad steakhouse. I don’t know, though; I don’t eat steak much.”
“Oh baby. Outback is the starter kit of steaks. But it’s not a real steakhouse in my opinion, and I guess that could be argued. I’m not going to hold you, I’ve eaten there before, it’s just not the top of chain in my opinion. We’re gonna have to broaden your pallet.”
“Oh, okay,” she giggled. “Well, Jaz took me to Ruth Chris and that’s a steakhouse. I love their food too.”
“That’s better. But let’s try Del Frisco’s Steakhouse, you ever been there?”
“No, I don’t think I have.” I placed my hand on her waist and guided her out the door.
“You gon’ love it then. I promise.”
An hour later, we had already stopped by to pick up little Ms. Butterfly and were finally being seated for dinner. When the waitress came to take our order, Forever didn’t know what she wanted. Her eyes bounced around the menu as she indecisively looked over all the options.
“I can’t decide if I want steak or crab cake.” She sighed.
“Get both,” I suggested.
“I want both,” Tahanii proudly announced.
“I got you.” I ordered her a New York strip, and a crab cake for them both and they were both satisfied.
We talked and laughed the whole time while we waited on our food. I learned a lot about Ms. Butterfly and her mom was right; she was really smart. When the food came out, we all dug right in.
“Mmmmmm. This steak is really good, and the crab cake tooooo,” Tahanii sang as she stuffed her mouth. “We gonna get steak tomorrow too,” she giggled.
“Do you have money for steak tomorrow?” I asked her.
“Yep, ’cause your money is me and Mommy’s money. Right, Mommy?” She looked at her mom, and I was in a fit of laughter. I liked the way this baby girl think and I had to respect it.
“Noooo, Hanii. Legacy’s money is his, and my money is our money, baby,” she told her.
“Nah, you had it right the first time. I got enough for you and your mommy, Butterfly. We can have steak whenever you want it.” I looked over at her then her mom to let Forever know that I meant what I said.
She didn’t say anything; she just sipped on her drink and continued to quietly eat her food. It was a beautiful night, and I was glad to put a smile on their faces.
Once we finished dinner, we headed back to the hotel.
It was getting pretty late, and Tahanii was already falling asleep in the backseat before we even made it halfway there.
By the time we got upstairs to the suite, Forever was in full mommy mode helping Butterfly get ready for bed.
I let her do her thing while she handled her routine with her daughter.
“Come on, stink. You gotta get out of those clothes because you got sauce on your shirt,” Forever laughed.
“I was hungry, Mommy,” Tahanii mumbled.
I chuckled and shook my head before heading toward the guest bathroom to handle my own hygiene.
When I came back out a little while later wearing a black T-shirt and gray sweats, the entire suite felt quiet and peaceful.
Forever was standing at the massive floor-to-ceiling windows looking out at the city.
Her hair was down for the first time since I met her since she was normally wearing it in a messy bun.
My God. This woman was beautiful. She was fine as fuck, but my attraction to her wasn’t just a physical thing.
It was everything else that made her, her.
“It’s a beautiful view,” I said, walking toward her.
She turned slightly and smiled at me.
“Yeah. It really is. Years ago, when I first started working here, I used to come up to the suites just to stare out at the skyline and talk with God.” I leaned against the nearby wall, carefully watching her.
“You got some beautiful hair, lil mama,” I told her.
“Thank you. It’s honestly too much work.
I try my best to take care of it and thankfully, I only lost a little hair during my chemo.
The sides of my hair came out and thinned the most, but I found this hair growth oil that helped grow it back.
Losing my hair was one of the things that I was afraid of. ”
I had an idea and I hoped she would go for it.
Yesterday, I ordered art supplies and had them couriered over to the hotel.
I liked to have my supplies with me at all times because I never knew when I’d get the urge to paint.
I could be sleeping and dream about something that should be on a canvas and the moment I woke up I started painting it.
And after looking at her, that’s exactly what I wanted to do—put her on a canvas.
I wanted to include every detail about her, the softness in her eyes, and all of the emotions that hid behind her smile. Everything.
“Can I paint you?” I randomly asked her.
“What—You want to paint me?” she questioned, face full of confusion. I stared at her for another moment and damn right I wanted to paint her.
“Yes.”
“Okay.” I could tell that she was nervous, but I was just glad that she agreed.
I pulled out my supplies and got myself set up then for the next few hours, I painted.
With each stroke of my brush, my feelings for this woman became a little deeper.
She was beautiful in every essence of the word.
I could understand why her confidence level might’ve been down, but it didn’t need to be.
She was able to pull some shit out of me that I never thought any woman could.
Not once did I have to question her true intentions or worry that she was interested in me for her own reasons or ambitions like with other women.
Lowkey, I was dreading going home tomorrow because waking up and going to sleep to her every night wasn’t something I could go back to not doing.