"Not enough," I said, placing tiny kisses at the corner of his mouth.
Kofi turned his head and captured my lips with his. Our kiss moved from light to intense in seconds and it wasn't much longer before Kofi's reaction told me I was playing with fire. It was torture stepping away from him, but I broke our kiss and gently shoved him in the chest. "We're going to the golf course, so we need to eat."
While pulling on boxers and slacks, Kofi teased me. "You certainly act quickly for someone who goes with the flow of things. First, you told me you had no plans for today and in no time, you fixed me up with a game."
"It was easy to do since Garth plays every weekend."
"How are we getting there?"
I reached for my cell phone. "I forgot to arrange that."
Another two-minute chat with Garth sorted out our transportation. To Kofi, I said, "We need to get going. He'll be here in forty-five minutes."
"Time enough for us to eat and be ready," Kofi said, pulling his shirt over his head. He picked up the key card off the dresser and held out one hand to me. "Let's go."
My hand in his felt right and now, more than ever, I was happy I decided to come with him. If nothing went right for the rest of the trip, this interlude with Kofi was worth everything to me. Although we'd only been together a short time, he gave me a sense of being grounded that nobody else ever had the power to do.
We were the only ones in the elevator and the ride to the ground floor was silent. That ended when we hit the courtyard where breakfast was served. The area wasn’t crowded, but a fair number of people were around. I did a quick survey of the food items before loading my plate with brown-stewed chicken, boiled green bananas and vegetables.
Kofi stayed true to form with his choice of a plateful of fruits and a serving of escoveitched fish and bammies. He didn't bat an eyelid when we sat and undid our cutlery from the napkin.
I was about to make a comment when the waiter approached us. After he poured coffee and orange juice for us, I picked up where I started. "How d'you know what those food items are?"
Kofi pointed to the batter-fried fish filet covered with onions, carrots and pepper that had been steeped in vinegar.
"Kemar's responsible for that. He adopted me, so there's little I don't know about Jamaican food. I admit I don't know that much about the culture, but I love the music."
Kofi's comment led to a discussion that lasted another fifteen minutes.
While we chatted, I stole a piece of bammy off Kofi's plate. The fried cassava cake helped to satisfy my insatiable craving for the taste of home. I'd barely finished chewing it before he looked at his watch. "We should get moving if we don't want your brother to wait for us."
"Garth's cool. He won't mind."
Kofi got to his feet and came to my side of the table to help with my chair. "We won't make him wait simply because he doesn't mind."
I couldn't argue with that, so I didn't try. Kofi and I had very different ideas about how some things worked, which was one of the reasons I respected him. He was all about being disciplined, while I preferred flying by the seat of my pants. Yet, we had great synergy.
Garth called me within ten minutes of us going back to our room and shortly after that, Kofi and I were downstairs waiting in the lobby. The moment I spotted my brother's vehicle outside, I went through the door pulling Kofi with me.
Garth hugged me tight, as he always did whenever I came home.
I fussed about him squashing me, but we both knew I loved the attention. His fiancée Anna-Lise got out of the van and we exchanged a hug. She'd been in Garth's life as long as I could recall and after being good friends for years, they were about to be married. My sister-in-law-to-be was tall with a rich cocoa complexion and thick hair I'd always envied.
She adored Garth and I hoped they'd start having babies right away to keep the heat off me. I knew my mother and what she was capable of when she got impatient. She'd been after Garth to get married and run the family business for years, but my brother did things at his own pace.
After our hugfest, I hooked my arm through Kofi's and stood close to him. "Anna-Lise and Garth, meet Kofi Danquah."
After the men shook hands, Garth said, "I hear an accent. Where are you from originally?"
"Ghana."
"Cool. I hear half of us came to Jamaica from there."
"I've heard that before too," Kofi said, "Some people here do resemble folks in Ghana."
I held in a giggle at the thought of my mother's reaction if she was present. She would have fainted if Garth said anything like that in her hearing.
Garth and Kofi laughed, but I was mystified since I hadn't heard the rest of their conversation.
