Her eyes study him and his lack of clothing. In a panic, she frantically asks, “When are you getting dressed? My class is at ten-forty and we have to leave in ten minutes so I’m not late.”
“I’m not going anywhere. It’s January twelfth. Christmas is over, bae. Kris and her team are coming to pack everything up and I’m gonna dispose of the tree,” he says nonchalantly.
“Akeem, not my tree.” She sighs.
“Bae, it can’t live forever. It’s starting to shed. It’s gotta go out,” he insists.
“I guess,” she says disappointedly. For Christmas, they had a beautiful, nine-foot, freshly-cut, live Abies Fraser Fir and Akeem hired a design team to decorate it and the condo to her precise specifications, a white and gold winter wonderland. Quise flew out on the twenty-eighth and spent New Year’s with them. “Where are you going to take my beautiful tree?” she asks.
“To a tree farm,” he says sarcastically.
“Stop.” She laughs. “I’m just going to miss it and the decorations, that’s all. But what about my class.”
“You can drive yourself.”
“Ugh. I guess I better leave soon. I’m going to have to get a permit to park on campus,” she says as she quickly opens the pack of croissants. She just lost fifteen minutes in the condo. “You want one?” she asks and he nods.
Quickly, she slices three croissants and fills them with salmon salad. After packing hers in a plastic container along with an apple and bag of chips, she places his on a plate and covers it with a napkin.
“Thanks.”
“So, if you are handling the tree, you’ll need the truck. I guess I’m driving the Rover,” she says with a slight smirk because he loves his Rover. He drives it more than his Tundra.
He reaches inside of his sweats pocket, pulls out a key fob, and places it on the island. “Nah, you’re driving this,” he says coolly.
Sunjiya immediately notices the key isn’t familiar. It doesn’t belong to his Rover or Tundra. She grabs it and sees the symbol. As a smile creeps across her face, she questions, “Mercedes?”
“Your last Christmas gift.”
“Akeem! I know you didn’t buy me a car,” she practically squeals. “Did you? Is this for real? You already did too much for Christmas. This is too, too much,” she raves.
“You don’t want it?” he teases. Unbeknownst to her, the car is really her birthday present. She refuses to celebrate her day or accept any gifts, so he overcompensated on Christmas and today.
“Hell yes, I want it!” she exclaims before rushing into his arms. “Thank you,” she pushes out over the lump forming in her throat. Her emotions choke her. With tears of joy crowding her eyes, she looks up at her thoughtful and loving man. “I love you,” she says.
“I love you too.” After kissing her, he taps her ass. “We gotta get all this shit in there so you won’t be late.”
“It’s too much?” she asks as she looks at the overly stuffed tote, lunch bag, and tumbler.
“How long is your class?” he asks and she grins.
“An hour and a half, but I’m going to stick around campus a little to learn my way around. So I might need all of this.”
“Yeah, it’s your first day. It’s always better to be overprepared.”
“That’s what I’m thinking. Okay, I’m going to run to the bathroom then I’ll be ready to see my new car and go to class.”
They walk back to their bedroom. While she goes into the bathroom to check her face and relieve her bladder, he steps into the closet to slide on a pair of Ones and a sweatshirt. He grabsher jacket off the back of the chaise in their small seating area and helps her into it when she steps out of the bathroom.
“You look beautiful,” he tells her once she adjusts her jacket.
“Like a college student? They’re going to be babies and I’m almost thirty.”
“Like a fine ass college student,” he assures her, then smiles.
“Now, I’m ready then.”
When they walk through the living room, she takes one final lingering look at their gorgeous tree and décor. He grabs her things from the kitchen then they head to the resident parking garage. In his normally vacated, reserved third spot is a brand new Verde Silver Metallic E-350 sedan with a gigantic white bow on the hood. After kissing all over his face a thousand times, she runs to her car. She places her hand on the hood then lightly drags it around her new baby. When she makes it to the front of the car, she sees the ACC decal in the window.
