Page 61 of The Best Man: Unfinished Business

“I’m not ‘harassing’ Robyn.” Aboagye pointed to himself. “I am a businessman.”

“A businessman who’s holding her hostage by not repairing her leaky roof,” Harper corrected.

“There’s also damage to the baseboards and floor tiles from flooding.

But I got an estimate on repairs as well as the price of a new generator.

If you can’t fix it, you’re going to pay someone who can.

That’s your responsibility. She owns the business; you own the building. ”

Aboagye mulled over what Harper was proposing. “And what happens next year when her business does not turn a profit? I don’t want to keep doing this year to year,” Aboagye declared.

Harper absorbed what this dude was saying.

Fine, he decided. I’ll play along. “Two years’ advanced rent.

” Harper tapped the bar top with his forefinger for emphasis.

Aboagye froze slightly as his eyes briefly widened behind his sunglasses.

Yeah. Money talks. “But everything must be repaired with no disruption to her business AT ALL. And you throw in a brand-new fridge. One that she orders and approves of, and you install it. No more popping by—you leave her alone and let her run things.”

Aboagye inhaled through his nose as if trying to smell something deeply as he turned to Harper. “Well, Mr. Ex-husband, do you want to buy the building?” Aboagye challenged.

“I don’t.” Buying a building was in the past. There was no making up for the fumble four years ago when Robyn wanted that restaurant space in Harlem.

Robyn deserved better. So did Mia. Robyn would never ask him to do anything like this, but this restaurant was something she’d built.

It was getting all the accolades it deserved because of her passion.

Harper could handle this hit. He could do this for her.

“Do we have a deal?”

—

Hours later, Harper was well into his work as a “helper” for the list of things that Robyn had actually asked him to do.

Her requests had been for him to pick Mia up from school and to get dinner started.

He knew it was in her anticipation of him leaving.

She’d given subtle hints, asking him when he was “heading home” but Harper didn’t have an answer to that.

He only knew that he was needed here, while at home his life was on the other side of Jordan’s now official silence.

“She blocked me, L,” Harper said to Lance.

Harper was in his rental, parked in the lot at Mia’s school FaceTiming.

Coach Lance Sullivan was at a Big 10 pro day, watching college hopefuls run, jump, throw, and tackle to prove they had what it takes to get to the NFL Draft, but was taking a moment away for his best friend who was in obvious distress.

“And I’ve tried. I’ve called, left messages, DMed her socials, sent flowers.

She won’t call me back,” Harper said. “Have you spoken to her?”

“Nah,” Lance said. “According to Q, Shelby’s had some correspondence. But she’s giving everyone the Heisman, bruh.” Lance’s reference to the man whose statue perpetually gave the forearm was an apropos analogy. Distance. Jordan was stiff-arming everyone. And it was somehow his fault.

“Maybe you should go see her,” Lance suggested. “Women need assurance. Not maybes. They want security and action. Jordan is no different.”

Harper knew Lance was right and looked skyward for answers before sighing. “I get it. You’re right. Hell, I wanna see her,” he continued. “But I don’t feel like I can leave here just yet. Things aren’t right.”

“Harp, you’re there under false circumstances, aren’t you?” Lance asked.

“What Mia said, yes. But things aren’t right here. And what about next time? And there’s going to be a next time. Is this going to happen again if I have to tend to the family?” Harper asked.

“Which family, Harp?” Lance paused as if he was going to let Harper answer.

But the question, coupled with Stan’s words earlier, caught Harper off guard.

With Harper’s silence, Lance continued. “Because Jordan wants to be your family. Hell, y’all are already family,” Lance answered for him. “At least I bet she feels that way.”

Harper looked away from his screen. Lance was right.

“She is…” Harper nodded. But how was he supposed to choose? “Do you believe in destiny, L?” Harper mused. Lance looked quizzically at his homeboy, prompting Harper to elaborate. “I know you believe in God, but do you believe in destiny ? In fate?”

“God, destiny, fate are intertwined in my mind, my guy,” Lance answered.

Lance’s voice reflected a clarity Harper wished he had. He swallowed a lump in his throat. “I think I have unfinished business here, L. It’s not easy to dismiss these feelings I have.”

“What feelings?” Lance asked.

“That I’m needed here,” Harper said. “My daughter needs help. So does Robyn.”

“Mia is your responsibility for sure. I get that. But Robyn’s moved on with old boy, hasn’t she?”

Harper shrugged at Lance’s reminder. It was hard to pretend that Kwesi wasn’t an impressive option. “Maybe. I know Mia doesn’t like him.”

“Of course she doesn’t like him. In her mind he’s trying to take her daddy’s place.”

“Did I fight enough for us, L?” Harper posited, asking the question that had been haunting him for days. What more can I do? He hadn’t figured it out with Robyn, and he couldn’t figure it out with Jordan either. “I mean did I do everything I should have done to save my marriage?” Harper asked.

Lance paused and looked at Harper through the phone. Harper knew he was going to get an unvarnished answer from Lance. He wasn’t Quentin, but Big L would be honest.

“Do you think you did?” Lance asked.

Harper twisted his lips, then kissed his teeth before slowly shaking his head. The truth was painful but obvious.

“No,” he replied softly. “I knew it when it was happening…” Harper admitted.

“I was…selfish. I wanted it my way.” Harper could hear both the whistles stateside in Maryland on Lance’s end through his phone and the sound of happy children being reunited with their parents as they emerged from the school yards away.

They’d both have to end their call soon.

“Harp, you can beat yourself up.” Lance squinted into the screen with sincerity.

“But you can’t go back in time. You did the best you could with what you knew.

Things happen, bro,” Lance assured him. “You don’t think I used to rack my brain on whether I did everything I could for Mia before I lost her? I did the best I knew how to do.”

“But what if this is where I’m supposed to be, L?” Harper asked. “What if what Jordan and I had is all there was? What if that was the limit of our destiny? What if that was the end of our story?”

“You don’t believe that, Harp. Not the way you two have been since undergrad. No way,” Lance declared.

“I thought so too. Now I’m not so sure…” Harper said. “If this was you and God put you in this situation, what would you think? How would you handle it?” Lance pondered what Harper was saying, but he didn’t give an answer. Harper continued, “I’m trying to be a better dude, L. A better man.”

Harper looked out the car window to see Mia exiting the building with her classmates. He opened his car door to step out and wave, so that she and her teacher could see him.

Lance finally broke their silence. “?‘Accept correction, and you will find life; reject correction, and you will miss the road.’?” Lance offered the Bible quote as he often did.

Harper looked at his phone, at his dear friend.

“Proverbs, 10:17,” Lance added. “If you think you’re there to ‘correct mistakes,’ maybe you are, Harp.

I can’t answer because I don’t know, but I’d pray on it, do what works for you.

Meditate, ask the ancestors, find you a witch doctor.

Whatever you think might help. God will tell you. If you ask, he’ll show you.”

Harper nodded. “Thanks, bruh.” Harper threw two fingers toward his screen as Lance signed off. He quickly stuffed the phone in his inner jacket pocket to greet Mia with a hug.

“Hi, Daddy!” Mia sounded so gleeful as she ran over to him, rushing into his arms. Harper smiled back at his daughter, taking her in, as resplendent as always.

Mia’s the only one who loved him unconditionally now.

The feeling was mutual. He loved seeing her every day.

Maybe Mia’s call was a call to action for me to try to repair what’s broken?

My relationship with Robyn? Maybe some part of my destiny was here, in Ghana, with Robyn and Mia? Maybe?

But what about Jordan?

Harper contemplated as he drove himself and Mia back to Robyn’s home.

And as the questions swirled in his mind, Lance’s words from their conversation ricocheted through his thoughts.

Women want assurance, not maybes. The one thing he knew for sure was that not all of those maybes could be true.

And he couldn’t leave Accra until he knew which ones were and which ones were not.