“Well, I like her, too,” Sabrina said crunching on her bacon.
“She is a nice lady.” Elijah took out his phone and texted Layla
OTW. Finishing breakfast. Sorry.
Layla’s answering message popped up.Meet us at the car in five.
Elijah sent back a thumbs up emoji.
“She’s so cool.”
He looked over at his daughter. “Who? Ms. Layla?”
Sabrina grinned and nodded. “Yes. Jasmine says her mom keeps the computers running for her entire company. She doesn’t get mad when we want to play dress up with her stuff and will play with us. She has cool friends and goes on trips. I want to be like her when I grow up.” She took the last bite of bacon and looked at Elijah. “You should go on trips, too, Daddy.”
Elijah froze in the middle of reaching for the last slice of bacon. “We go on trips.”
Sabrina laughed as if he were silly. “Not us, Daddy. You. Maybe then you’ll be happy like Ms. Layla.”
Layla’s word from the night before came rushing back. That Sabrina thought he was sad or depressed. “I am happy.”
Sabrina’s brows drew together as if she were thinking, but the doorbell rang before she could say something. Her face lit up. “It’s Jasmine!”
She grabbed her bookbag and ran toward the front door. Elijah was hot on her heels. “Hold up. Don’t answer the door unless I’m there with you.”
She bounced on her toes. “Hurry, hurry,” she waved him to the door. When Elijah caught up with her she checked the side window. “Told you it was Jasmine.” Then she opened the door.
Jasmine stood on the other side. She too was dressed in a pair of pants with a the same Scar t-shirt and a backwards baseball cap. Sabrina’s sudden wardrobe change was explained. The two girls must have decided the night before that they would dress alike.
“Mom said to come get you before we’re late,” Jasmine said.
“I’m ready.” Sabrina turned and hugged Elijah. “Bye, Daddy.”
“Have a good day, sweetheart.” He followed her out onto the porch. Layla waved from the driver’s seat in her driveway. Sabrina and Jasmine skipped to the car. He waved back but frowned. He hadn’t gotten the chance to finish his conversation with Sabrina. He wanted to convince her that he wasn’t sad, but saying it without making some changes in his life would mean nothing.
He always followed the rules. Always calculated the risk before making a decision. Always did what was expected of him. He didn’t regret the way he’d lived, but he did regret that he’d allowed doing the right thing to restrict him from truly living. He watched as Layla drove away with the two girls in the backseat. She gave him one last smile and wave that made his morning brighter. Maybe he’d miscalculated by not saying something to Layla about the way he felt. Maybe the joy everyone said he needed had been right next to him all along.
Chapter 5
“Can you believe he said that?” Layla looked up from sorting the HDMI cables in the conference room back to her friend, Carolyn, leaning against the conference table.
She shouldn’t have started this conversation. She didn’t have time to rehash her exchange with Elijah from the night before. Of the four technicians she supervised in the IT department at the corporate office of the Leisure Hotel Group, three were out thanks to a nasty cold circulating through the department. As the supervisor she didn’t typically have to set up the conference rooms for the upcoming meetings, but she didn’t want to leave the remaining person on her team struggling to get everything set up for the various department and committee meetings happening that day. She still had to set up the main conference room for a committee meeting in an hour. But when Carolyn walked in and asked “what’s up” she’d blurted out what Elijah had said the night before faster than a traitor offered a bribe.
“Yeah, I can believe it. I mean he basically said what you already suspected. The man isn’t looking for romantic love. He’s looking for someone who conveniently fits into his life.” Carolyn said in true “let’s get to the point of things” fashion. A skill that helped her quickly resolve disputes as the HR director. She adjusted the frames of her stylish, black glasses and placed a hand on her hip. She wore a simple black jumpsuit and a bright yellow blazer which accentuated her short, curvy figure. The ample strands of gray in her curly hair made her look sophisticated rather than matronly, and at fifty-two, Carolyn would slice anyone who dared to call her matronly.
Layla scoffed before plugging the correct HDMI cord into the conference room’s laptop. “I mean…yeah, I guessed that, but for him to say it. The man really doesn’t know how to let loose and have fun. I still can’t believe he’s in a fraternity.”
“Men are simple. The quicker you accept that the happier you’ll be. All men want someone to just slip into their lives and cater to their needs. I could have told you he thought of you because you live next door, your kids get along, and you’re attractive. It sounds like he’s smart enough to realize that type of relationship wouldn’t work with you. Which, for a man, that type of intuition is rare. So tell me, are you upset because he was honest, or because you’re attracted to him and wanted him to say he couldn’t resist you?”
“Look here Madam HR Director, don’t try to that trick of getting me to admit to being wrong.”
Carolyn shrugged but grinned. “It was worth a try.”
Layla chuckled and checked to verify the laptop screen was mirrored on the projector screen. “Yes, I am attracted to him, but I also accepted that the two of us would never get together.”
Carolyn crossed her arms. “Then I don’t understand why you’re upset.”
“The problem is he’s so principled and buttoned up that he’s not living life. I wouldn’t care, but his daughter has noticed and she’s worried.”
