Page 54 of Search My Soul (Taylor Family Saga #3)

“I hope you can cook because if my brothers do nothing else, they eat.” Patience schooled me as I sat next to her at the hookah lounge.

She invited me to a girls’ night with her and their other sister, Lovely.

I was a little nervous since this was the first time I’ve met a man’s family. However, they were both really cool.

“I can do a little something in the kitchen, but I wouldn’t put me in charge of Thanksgiving. I can bring a dish or two though,” I quipped. I’ve been cooking more since we’ve been together because Soul preferred a home cooked meal and I wanted to cater to my man.

“I feel you, girl. I don’t know what my future husband is going to do.

I can make the basics like fried chicken, pasta and I can make a mean salmon.

Don’t ask me to make any yams or dressing because then I’ve gotta call my sister,” Lovely admitted.

The two of us slapped hands in unity because I was still learning myself.

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Love. You were in the kitchen right along with me. There’s no way you shouldn’t know how to make a whole Thanksgiving dinner from scratch,” Patience teased with judgment in her tone.

You could tell she was the oldest without her even having to say anything. It was the way she carried herself.

“Girl, bye. I used to tune all of those lessons out. The only thing I cared about was the desserts because they were my favorite.”

“What are you going to do when you get married and it’s your turn to host dinner?” Patience inquired.

“Well, prayerfully, I’ll be married to a wealthy man who can afford to hire a chef. If not, then I’ll be calling you to cook for me,” Lovely replied with a shrug.

“You are ridiculous. The two of you are going to have to come over my house for some lessons. I can’t have my future brother-in-law living off of chicken alfredo and pussy.” She scoffed while giving us both the side eye.

“Personally, I think that’s a well-balanced meal.

Your brother enjoys both of them,” I shot back.

Truthfully, Soul was easy to please, although he was brutally honest. The one time I attempted a recipe I saw for pepper steak, but he spit it out and told me to order takeout.

I was so embarrassed, I started practicing my recipes before I tried them out on him.

He wasn’t about to embarrass me and hurt my little feelings.

“Go to hell. I don’t want to hear that mess.

Speaking of my brother, how are things going with the two of you?

When you showed up to our parents’ memorial celebration, I was surprised.

Our brothers are ladies’ men, but they don’t ever bring them home unless it’s serious.

” Patience wasted no time getting down to the real questions.

I expected as much so I made sure to come prepared.

“We are getting pretty serious. Soul is the first man I’ve dated in a long time, so I’m just trying to enjoy the moments as they come.”

“Do you love him?” I got ready to answer the question when a pretty young girl came over to the table. She resembled Lovely so I knew she must have been related to them.

“Hey, y’all. I’m sorry I’m late. Hi, I’m Adore. The baby of the family.” Now I could finally put a face to the name. I had overheard him talking to her a few times on the phone, so I recognized her name.

“I’m Neeya. It’s nice to meet you.” She shook my hand before taking a seat next to Lovely. Our server came over to take our drink and food orders and instructed us on how to order hookah. Once we placed our orders and they brought our hookah, they started right back with the questions.

“Back to what we were discussing before AD got here. Do you love my brother?” Patience pressed.

“I do. It feels like it’s too soon, but I really care about him. He’s so different than any other man I’ve ever dealt with before.”

“Do you see yourself marrying him and having a family?”

“We’ve talked about those things, but I’m not ready right now. I don’t want to rush those things because they are sacred to me. Plus, neither of us are in a place in our careers where we should be bringing a child into the world.” They nodded in understanding.

“Speaking of that, are you planning to quit dancing?” I knew the question would come up and I was cool with it.

Soul and I’ve discussed my job multiple times, but it wasn’t until recently that I began to really think about what I wanted to do with my life.

Soul took care of my financial needs even though I expressed to him that I didn’t need him to.

He wasn’t trying to hear it, so he made sure all of my bills were on autopay and paid directly through his bank account.

The idea of becoming dependent on a man scared me, but I realized that taking care of the people he loves was his way of showing love.

Soul was a provider at heart and refused to allow me to overextend myself at a job he knew I didn’t care for.

Instead, he challenged me to find a career that I was interested in.

“I’m opening my own dance studio for young girls. I’ve studied various forms of dance, and I would love the opportunity to teach others.”

“I think that’s a great idea. When you are doing something that you enjoy, it doesn’t feel like a job.

It might take a while to build the clientele, but it will be worth it.

I’m sure you won’t miss the club money because my brother is a trick.

At least when it comes to the people he loves,” Lovely added.

“Don’t talk about my man like that. He’s not that bad.”

“Girl, you are in denial. Romi called him last week and asked for a princess tiara for her friends’ tea party. That man went and had a custom tiara made full of diamonds for a seven-year-old’s birthday party.” I giggled, observing the expression on Patience’s face.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it. If you’re gonna have a custom tiara, you might as well make it an expensive one.”

“Oh, please. Soul has been this way since the moment I gave birth to that little girl. Every time she opens her mouth to ask for anything, he makes sure that she has it. I don’t even want to imagine how bad he’s gonna be when he has his own children.

You aren’t going to be able to tell him anything,” she grumbled, with a light smirk on her face.

“I always wanted to know what it was like to be spoiled by my parents so I’m definitely gonna do the most when it comes to my kids.

” I tried my best not to reflect on my past, but it was hard not to at times.

I always wanted to have a large, close-knit family, but it just wasn’t in the cards for me.

My only hope was that I could give my children something I never had.

“Well, if you end up joining our family, then those children are gonna be spoiled rotten regardless. Although I don’t know how I’m gonna feel about being replaced by another kid. It’s bad enough that I have to share my attention with Romi,” Adore whined with her lips poked out.

“Girl, get over it. It’s about time you got bumped down to our level. You are not a baby anymore.” Lovely tittered, causing me to laugh.

“You’re just jealous because I’m the baby and the favorite of the family.” Adore flipped her hair while sticking out her tongue.

“And a spoiled little baby you are. I can’t believe you talked Soul into buying you a new car. The one you had was barely three years old,” Lovely complained.

“The Bible says you have not because you asked not. I asked so I got a car. It’s not my fault that you always wanna be Ms. Independent.”

“She does have a point. I told Pure that I needed my guest bedroom revamped so I could make content, and he hired an interior decorator and a contractor a few days later. What is the perk of having rich siblings if we can’t get what we want?” Patience reasoned.

“Y’all are so lucky. I always wanted to have older siblings, especially brothers. I was always fighting growing up and never had anyone to defend me. I can tell you all are close and it kind of makes me jealous,” I admitted.

“It was definitely a blessing and a curse. Don’t get it twisted, we’ve had our moments like any family does, but we’re all we’ve got.

I think losing our parents made us even closer because outside of our grandparents, we only had each other.

We went through a lot of hell, so it was nice to have each other to lean on, but we are far from perfect.

We have our own issues and dysfunction like everybody else. ” Patience expressed.

“Speak for yourself, hoe. I’m as close to perfect as you can get.” Adore chimed in, making her sisters roll their eyes.

“Yeah, we’ll see how perfect you are after your brothers find out you’re not a virgin anymore.” Adore covered her face with her hands like a child who had been caught.

“Well, I’m not worried about Soul finding out because I told him that I was thinking about it.

Pure is the one I’m afraid of. The man is a menace, and he has run off every single man I have ever liked.

Zyaire seems like he’s up for the challenge, but I can’t guarantee my brothers are going to act right. ”

“I used to feel the same way, but I’m grateful now.

If any man can’t handle themselves with our brothers, they aren’t the kind of men we need to be dealing with.

I want a man who isn’t afraid of anything or anyone.

” Lovely made a valid point although I was curious about what kind of hell their brothers have raised to have them afraid to date.

Once the food arrived, we got even more comfortable.

The music and the vibes at the lounge were everything and I was glad I came.

We continued to talk about everything under the sun until someone caught my attention.

I hadn’t laid eyes on Tone since the incident at his house, but he had been blowing my phone up trying to make things right.