Page 68

“Of course I am. I’m always right when it comes to these things. Remember who dragged you kicking and screaming to the club that night when you’re tucking Kaison Jr. into bed at night.”
“She doesn’t have a big ego at all,” I say to the little old lady with bleached blonde hair in line behind us in the food court.
“It sounds like your friend has some pretty good ideas there,” the woman says. “Don’t mind me, I was just very entertained by your conversation. It sure beats being bored in line.”
We laugh and step up to the Japanese place to order some chicken teriyaki.
Once we have our food, I choose a table, and we settle down. I check my phone to see I’ve missed a call from Kaison.
I shoot him a text.Sorry I missed your call. What can I do for you?
Are you going to be home today?
I’m heading there in the next thirty minutes. Why do you ask?
I just tried stopping by, but you weren’t home. I have something for you.
How does he know where I live?
“Who’s that?” Farah twists noodles around her fork.
“It’s Kaison. He tried to stop by.”
Farah squeals so loud the people at the table nearby look over at us.
“You’re making a scene,” I hiss at her.
“I don’t care. Haven’t you ever seen a romance movie? This is the grand gesture scene!”
“I think you’re reading way too much into this,” I say. Because my life is far from a fairytale or romcom or whatever you want to call it. I don’t get happily ever afters. It may look that way for a while, but then horrible things happen to me, and I’m worse off than when I started.
“I’m not. You’ll see.” Farah shuts the box of food.
“What are you doing? We just sat down.”
“How can you eat at a time like this?” She looks over my outfit. “You look good. No need to change.”
“Thanks.” For once, Farah isn’t complaining about how I’ve chosen to dress. I close my food—Farah is right. I’m too nervous to eat now.
I text Kaison, and we make plans to meet him at my place in forty-five minutes. That will give me enough time to pick my bra up from my bedroom floor. Not that I’m thinking he’ll go in there or anything, but you never know. We may want to have a conversation without Farah monitoring the entire thing.
When I finally have my place cleaned up and my purchases stowed away in my closet, there’s a knock on my door.
I swing it open, and Kaison is standing there with a big bouquet of red roses. Suddenly, it’s hard to breathe. This is it. The grand gesture Farah was talking about. I’m not sure I can handle a grand gesture. Why allow myself to get my hopes up?
He looks good in a suit and tie with a slight stubble across his face that makes me want to reach out and touch it to see what it feels like beneath my fingers.
“Hi, Kaison,” Farah says. “It’s great to see you.”
“Hi, Farah,” he says, and I remember they knew each other from going to the club and from brushing shoulders at Georgia’s elite gatherings.
“I’ll just be in my room if you need anything.”
Well, I was wrong about her. The girl knows how to make herself scarce. I feel bad for doubting her.
I take the flowers from Kaison. “I’ll just go put these in some water. Come on in.”
He follows me into the kitchen. We have an abundance of vases from all the flowers Farah has gotten over the years from various boyfriends. Not one for me.