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Chapter Twelve

SORAYA ‘YAYA’ CRAWFORD

“Gracias, papi,” I nicely said to my driver for the night, after he came around the blacked- out escalade, and he extended his hand, so that he could assist me with getting out.

I had my days where I didn’t feel like driving and would hit up a popular chauffer service here in Miami that I have been using for years now.

If I knew that I had plans for later in the day, I would text the company first thing in the morning, or if I knew that I needed them in the morning, I would text them at night, and they always pulled through for me.

I’ve given them a lot of my business over the years.

It’s been a long week at the office, so this morning, as I was getting ready to head into work, I made the decision that I needed some quality time to myself, which is why I’d made the solo dinner reservations in the first place, and had plans to trick on myself tonight, ordering a bottle of wine to the table, appetizers that were my favorite, and whatever entrée that I was in the mood for.

Never in a million years did I think that I would have to share this experience tonight with Law.

I wanted to be a bitch. I wanted to tell him that tonight wouldn’t work for me, but I knew that he took his job just as serious as I took mine, so it was important for us to meet up tonight, so that we could discuss Reggie, and he could be somewhat prepared for when he meets up with his mom tomorrow morning.

My driver’s name was Julio, and after I stepped out with his assistance, he smiled and told me to enjoy myself. He assured me that there wasn’t any rush, and he would be in the area, waiting for me, and to text him whenever I was ready. I let him know that that was fine, and I walked up.

Law was already here. He texted me five minutes ago, telling me that he was seated.

I let him know that I was only five minutes away, and he said that that was cool.

Dealing with him was a lot, and because I knew that, I took two shots of Don Julio before I walked out the door.

The last time that I was around him, I jumped on him, trying to rake his eyes out.

I wanted to be calm, which is why I took those shots, and I already gave myself a pep talk on the way over.

I promised that I wouldn’t allow him to get under my skin.

If he said something that pissed me off, I was just going to try my best to ignore it.

“Look at you, Soraya. You look so beautiful. Law is already in the back. I’ll walk you back there,” the hostess, Amerie said to me the second I walked through the door.

Back when Law and I were married, we would dine at this restaurant at least once a week.

The kids would come with us too, but a lot of nights, it was our date night.

Amerie has been working here for a while, which is why she knew me, and Law on a first name basis.

I’m sure she knew about the divorce and was probably wondering why the hell him and I were meeting up for dinner, but I knew she wouldn’t ask.

“Thank you. How are you? I feel like I haven’t seen you in a minute,” I said.

It’s been a while since I’ve eaten here.

Now that I was a single woman, I tried to remove old habits from my day-to-day lifestyle, not wanting anything to remind me of Law.

My ass just got the courage to come out here tonight, and the day that I decide to, it’s him who I’m meeting up with.

“I’m pretty good. You haven’t been here, girl, so that’s why you haven’t seen me. You look so good. Don’t get me wrong, you always look good, but tonight, I just feel like your glowing,” Amerie complimented me again, as she walked on the side of me, and we started walking to wherever Law was.

I know I looked good. I made sure of that any time that I would walk out of the house.

Knowing that I was meeting up with my ex-husband tonight though, I made sure that I went a little extra in my look, but not too extra because Law was petty, and he was cocky, and he would swear that I went the extra mile tonight, just so that I could look good for him.

I loved a good dress, so this evening, after my shower, and I was standing in my massive, walk-in closet with my towel wrapped around my body, I scanned all my beautiful gowns, trying to decide which one I wanted to wear tonight. There was so many to choose from. Some that had tags still on them.

I went with a gold maxi dress from the brand Babyboo.

The dress color almost looked like liquid gold.

It was a halter gown, and this color, mixed with my caramel skin was the perfect combo.

The waist of the dress was sucking me in, making it look as if my waist had disappeared because you literally couldn’t see it.

I loved the thigh- high slit that the dress had, showing off my long, silky legs.

Cleavage was shown, but not too much. I walked effortlessly in my gold pumps, that had me standing higher than what I really was.

Because the dress was already a statement of its own, I didn’t have to do too much with my hair.

I kept two pieces out in the front, that I curled, and the back was pulled up into a messy, up do look.

My make-up was nice and highlighted, looking golden to match the dress.

When Julio picked me up this evening, and he complimented me, telling me that I looked beautiful tonight, he really wasn’t lying.

Amerie eventually led us to the back, and I was shocked when I saw that we were in a private room.

I hadn’t booked a private room for us tonight.

I just made regular, simple reservations through the restaurant’s website.

Law, and his smooth talking, and the fact that him, and the manager here were cool, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was him that was able to get us a private room.

If ya’ll could see this man, I swear you would put your hand on my forehead, just to check my temperature, and see what the fuck was wrong with me because he was so fine.

That 90’s kind of fine. The fine that you would look at and say that God didn’t make them like him anymore.

Law knew how to wear a suit too. I had eyes, and they worked well, so I knew that no one alive could rock a suit like him.

Out of all the colors in the world that he could have worn tonight, he opted to wear a burnt caramel satin button down top.

His burnt orange, with my gold, looked like we tried to coordinate colors tonight.

The first two buttons of his shirt were undone, so you could see a little bit of his chest. Because of the fit of the top, you saw every cut that was in his arms and chest. His ass was in the gym, and the work showed.

Even though he was sitting, I could see his black slacks, along with his black, Christian Louboutin dress shoes.

The money that Law had was never too loud.

You would never see him in big, bulky chains, or crazy iced out watches.

He loved classic time pieces, so it didn’t come as any surprise tonight that he was wearing a stainless Audemars Piguet Royal Oak.

His hands were clasped together on the table, so you could see his hand tattoos. I could smell the Creed Aventus on him too, which was one of his favorite scents.

Most ex-husbands would have gone out of their way to pretend that they weren’t impressed by their ex- wife’s appearance for the night, but Law wasn’t like most niggas. He boldly looked me up and down. I mean, his eyes started from my feet, and they traveled all the way up my body.

This was going to be a long night.

“You two enjoy. I’m going to go back out front,” Amerie said, leaving me standing here. I froze for a little bit, and then I took my own seat.

I sat my clutch down in my lap that I had been holding, and I looked Law in his eyes because he was looking me in mine.

“You dress like this all the time for business meetings?” his slick ass asked. I knew that I couldn’t go too bold in my look tonight because he would swear that I dressed up for him. I did all of this to prove that I didn’t dress up for him, and it still didn’t work.

“This dress has been laying around in my closet for months. Please. You have your whole chest out,” I lied, and then I took the focus off me, so that I could put it on him.

This dress has not been lying around in my closet for months.

I went online shopping not too long ago, and this dress just delivered earlier in the week.

I took the tag off it this evening to put it on.

“Yeah, aight,” was all he said.

“Why are we in a private room? How did that happen?” I wanted to know.

“Jeff said that it was available, so I asked if we could have it because we’re here to discuss business. He said that it wasn’t booked for tonight, so he gave it to us,” he replied. Jeff was the owner. He was cool. I’m sure he was going to come over and say hi to me before the evening was over.

Our waitress came over with a smile on her face. I didn’t recognize her, so she might have been new. I haven’t been here in a while, so that would explain that. She introduced herself, told us a little bit about the chef’s choice that was going on tonight, and then she asked for our drink orders.