I grew quiet for a while and became lost in my thoughts.
“What are you thinking about?”
“How you haven’t been pushing me away since we’ve been up here, and you’ve accepted my advice and guidance more lately. Why’s that?”
“Because your love is a safe and easy space for me. We may not have seen eye to eye about the demands of my career, but you have never judged me or pressured me in other areas of my life. You always make me feel okay being me, even when you don’t understand me. My heart trusts you, Bryse. I know that you will never do anything purposely to hurt me, and if you do hurt me, I also know that it was more than likely unintentional.”
“I have always worked hard to make sure that you let your guard down, Kenni, because you deserve to exist as your true selfin the space that was created for you. I always want to give you that.”
She turned and stared into my eyes with a smile. “I love you.” Then she rested her head on my chest again.
I rubbed my hands up and down her arms. “Not half as much as I love you.”
I kissed the top of her head, and we lay in that position until we fell asleep.
Chapter 16
Bryson
SUNDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 12TH
The night before, we fell asleep on the floor. When we woke up this morning, I felt the aches and pains in my body from sleeping on that damn floor, but her little ass jumped up easy and free like it was no problem. We took a shower together, climbed back into bed, and fell asleep again for a couple of hours. When we woke up, we noticed it was shortly after eleven, and we had missed breakfast, but we could catch brunch.
“I told you that I’d have to work out extra hard after we leave this place,” Kennedi announced over brunch.
“Why is that?”
“Because, look at this. They create amazing spreads for breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner.”
I laughed. “You act like you had to pile all of that on your plate. You always could have opted for the healthier option if that was what you wanted to do,” I declared as she forked some home fries into her mouth and chewed slowly.
“Mm.” She moaned as she chewed and then opened her eyes. “Then I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy all of this. Who wants cantaloupe, strawberries, cottage cheese, and granola when you could have this?”
Kennedi pointed at her plate, and I laughed again. She had a frittata, brioche toast, sausage, Canadian bacon, home fries, coffee cake, and a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit casserole.
“All I know is that I don’t want to hear you complaining about taking a nap after this. We’re not taking another nap. Today’s our last full day here, and you wanted to visit the lake again, and there were a couple of things that I wanted to check out too.”
“Like what?”
“I was thinking that we could go horseback riding.”
“Please. The horse won’t be able to stand underneath all the pounds I’m about to gain. Don’t judge me, I don’t eat like this at home.”
I sat back in my chair and smiled at her. “I’m not judging you, precious. You’re judging your damn self. If that’s how you want to eat, indulge. Shit, we’re on vacation. You don’t see me crying about sleeping until nine and ten o’clock and not working out daily, when we both know I’m up at four every morning, and I work out in the morning and at night before I go to bed.”
“That’s true,” she replied with a mouthful of coffee cake as she pointed her fork at me.
I honestly was enjoying the time that we had together. It had been so long since we had been able to unwind and just enjoy ourselves, each other, and the hard work that we put in daily to be able to afford a comfortable lifestyle. It seemed that we worked hard to bring in a nice income, and we saved, but we didn’t often enjoy the fruits of our labor beyond our nice home, cars, and clothes.
“Go ahead and finish up your food. I need to run to the restroom and stop by the front desk for some information on their horseback riding program.”
“Okay, baby.”
“Hey, guys. What are you two up to?” Kerris asked as she and L.A. walked up to our table.
“I was heading to the front desk for some information about their horseback riding program, and Kenni is enjoying brunch.”
“Girl, I had their brunch yesterday, and all I wanted was to sleep the rest of the day away,” Kerris shared with a giggle as I walked off.
