Page 15 of Beck & Coll

Even though I was booked into the Sunset Cliff Cottage through Wednesday morning, I opted to go ahead and check out on Tuesday.

I moved into the junior suite at the lodge that Mrs. Strong gifted me.

Of course, it wasn’t as luxurious or opulent as the Sunset Cliff Cottage.

Nor was the view of the Sienna Sunset Heritage Garden as breathtaking as the view of the river and the mountains. Still, it was a lovely suite.

Beckham brought my bags up for me and put them in the bedroom, while I did a video chat with my mom.

“Girl,” my mother began, as soon as her pretty face appeared on the screen. “Your sister showed me the video of the salon at the lodge. You know, the one where you did the girl’s hair? You’re supposed to be on vacation, Coll. Why in the world are you doing hair?”

“That’s what I asked,” Beckham called out as he entered the main room of the two-room suite.

All of a sudden, my mom’s face was pushed to the side, and Perkins’s face appeared on the camera. “Who was that? I heard a man.”

My mother grunted. Perkins disappeared, and my mother’s face reappeared.

I chuckled. “What are y’all doing?”

“Perkins is minding my business… as usual. Who was that man?”

“Collins met a man in the wilderness,” Perkins said loudly. “Is he white? I could definitely see her with a white man. Doing one of those videos where she talks about leveling him up.”

“Well, if he was white, you yelling about me leveling him up would be super cringey,” I said.

Beckham sat down beside me on the sofa and moved his face so that it was in the camera. Then he dropped a quick kiss on my cheek.

“Mom, this is Beckham… a Black man.” I tacked on, which caused Beckham to snicker.

“Hey, Ms. Kingsley. I look forward to meeting you in person,” he said.

“Are you moving there?” Perkins asked from the background.

“I am not,” I assured her before launching into my plan for our mom to join me for the fall festival. “I’m sending your ticket confirmation as we speak, Ma.”

“I can’t believe that you’re bringing me there to see Londynville Steele in person. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been to a concert. I know it was before the pandemic.”

Beckham dropped another kiss on my cheek before standing from the sofa. “I have a tour group in twenty minutes. I’ll see you later.”

“See you.” I watched him leave the suite before turning my attention back to my phone.

“And you say that’s your friend?” she probed.

“Yeah. He owns the wilderness adventure company that’s attached to the lodge. His parents actually own the lodge.”

Her eyes ballooned. “Okay. So, he comes from a legacy of entrepreneurship. He’s a good catch, Coll. And it was written all over his face that he really likes you.”

“I really like him, too,” I admitted.

“Enough to relocate to see if you could make something happen with him?”

“Ma, my life is in Chicago. You’re in Chicago. My sisters are there. My house is there. If I ever rebuild Posh Moments , it’ll be there.” I took a deep breath. “I can’t see myself living that far away from you, Ma. You’re my mom.”

“That’s true, but I’m also just a human, baby.

Don’t use me as an excuse not to live. This is your life, not mine.

I’ve lived mine and made my mistakes. I took chances that I shouldn’t have and stayed in places and with people longer than I should’ve.

And believe me when I tell you that I have the regrets to show for all of it. ”

“Mom…”

“Don’t ‘Mom’ me, Collins. I’m telling you what I know. If I had the chance to do it all over again, I would do it differently. I wouldn’t be scared to make big changes. I wouldn’t cling so hard to what was familiar.”

“The Kingsley women don’t have a lot of luck with men, Ma. I think that’s my biggest fear,” I confessed. “I don’t want to give up everything for him, only to end up back at home, heartbroken and shattered.”

“My life isn’t your life.”

“But your life has had the same outcome as Grandma’s. Why should I think mine would turn out any better?”

“Because. Nothing your grandmother ever did made me end up with four beautiful daughters by four unworthy men. Those were my choices. Life doesn’t just happen to us; we make choices.

Even not making a choice is a choice. Don’t base your future happiness on me.

I’m living my life. You get to live yours, and you don’t have to live it for me. ”

I spent Wednesday and Thursday doing hair.

Mrs. Strong told me that she was going to set up a little lottery for the resort guests.

She was going to put names in a drawing, and whoever was selected would get their hair done by me.

Initially, I agreed to taking one client a day.

The response to the lottery was so great that I decided to take four clients on Wednesday and five on Thursday.

By the time I finished up with the last client on Thursday, I was dead on my feet.

Beckham invited me to his house for dinner.

Of course, I took him up on the offer. Because who felt like cooking after being on their feet for almost ten hours?

And he was the most thoughtful man alive.

As soon as I walked into his place, he ushered me into his well-appointed, spa-like master bathroom.

He had run a bath for me with the high-end products that were sold at the lodge.

He’d even placed rose petals all along the edge of the tub.

I sunk down into the warm water and took a sip from the glass of sparkling wine he’d poured me. I moaned as I swallowed.

“You good?” he asked, from his perch on the edge of the tub.

I grinned at him. “I’m great, Beck. Thank you for this. One thing I can definitely say is that it’s nice to have somebody do this for me. I’ve always come home to an empty house, never to one with somebody waiting to do something so sweet for me.”

“I like taking care of you.”

He likes taking care of me . That statement caused butterfly wings to flap inside my stomach.

“Surprisingly enough, I like being taken care of,” I muttered.

“You take care of people all day. You help them relax. You make them feel good about themselves. You deserve the same, mamas. Just because nobody’s ever come through and given it to you, doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it.

” He took a beat. “See, if you move to Jackson Falls, you can take care of the ladies at the salon. When you get home, I’ll take care of you.

Bubble baths… dinner delivered… foot massages… big dick…”

The butterflies in my stomach went bananas. And I allowed myself to imagine what it would feel like to let Beckham be my safe space and my man.

“That sounds so good, Beck. I just don’t see how I could live so far away from my mother… my family. That’s the only life I know.”

“But it’s not the only life there is.”

I didn’t respond.

“I’m not gonna push you, Coll. I don’t want you here if I have to talk you into it. It has to be your own decision… your own idea.”

I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief. Relocating 2,000 miles away from everything I knew, even for a man with a heart as pure as Beckham’s, was too much.

“Truth be told, Beck, I haven’t even really seen Jackson Falls.

I feel like I’ve only seen a few touristy things.

I’ve been to Second Street, The Butterscotch Café, and to the waterfall.

I don’t even have a real vision of what life is like here.

Where do you buy your toothpaste? New shoes?

Deodorant? I haven’t seen not one red store with the bull’s eye or even the blue store with the yellow starburst or flower or whatever that thing is supposed to be.

Where are the houses and apartments? What do locals do for fun here?

I don’t even have enough information about Jackson Falls to decide anything.

I’ve seen a lot of Manor at Sienna Sunset Resort but not much of the town. ”

“You have a point. We should do that tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow, I have to pick my mom up from the airport, and you have tours, right?”

“You’re right. Early, though. My last tour is at two in the afternoon.

I’ll be done in plenty of time to take you and your mother to see Londynville Steele .

” He paused for a moment. “I know you drove here from the airport by yourself when you arrived, but I’d feel more comfortable if you didn’t make the drive to Portland alone.

I’mma have Bay go with you to pick up your mom from the airport. Is that cool?”

I smiled to myself. This man was always taking care of me. “Yeah.”

Bayliss Strong was the eldest Strong brother, and he most certainly wasn’t the shy one. He kept up his end of the conversation as we made the trek from Jackson Falls to Portland, Oregon, where we would meet my mother at the airport.

I was thankful for his questions, comments, and observations. They were a great distraction from the fact that my stomach was filled with butterflies. I was excited to see my mom after being away from her just short of two weeks. That lady was my heart.

“There she is!” I said excitedly as we cruised through the arrivals area. I let down the window and practically hung out of it.

“Alisha! Alisha!”

“Where? Is this her in the pink?” Bay questioned.

Alisha Kingsley had her size twelve body poured into what I knew was supposed to be a relaxed-fit lounge outfit, but trust my mama’s shapely body to make it look sexy.

“Yep. Stop the truck.”

“Dayum,” Bay muttered softly. He stopped the truck and jumped out before I could, approaching my mother with a grin on his handsome face that looked so much like Beckham’s. “Hello.”

My mother gave him a shy smile before pushing some of her hair behind her ear. “Hello.”

“Ma.” I pushed past him and dove into her. I wrapped her up in my arms and squeezed tightly. “Ma.”

She hugged me back. “Hey, baby.”

“I missed you.” I kissed her cheek before releasing her.

“I missed you, too.” She eyed Bayliss. “Is this your friend ?”

“No. This is his brother, Bayliss. Bay?—”