“They raised a stubborn boy, though. I wanted to play football. I wasn’t gonna take ‘no’ for an answer. So, they gave me their ultimatum. The only way I could participate on the middle school team was as a placekicker. Man.” I dragged out the word. “My middle school team didn’t even have a placekicker position. One of the tight ends was kicking the ball for the team. My dad made a large contribution, and the next thing I knew, Fair Meadow Academy had a kicker. Me.”
She giggled. “Your father made a contribution? So your family has money? You’re not their financial savior?”
“Nah. I’m not their financial savior. Not even close. They couldn’t understand why I would want to get beaten up, bruised,and manhandled at first. They felt like I should leave that kind of physicality to the guys who needed to lift their families out of tough situations. They felt like I was trying to take an opportunity away from a guy who needed it more than I did. I think that was another reason they made me go for kicker; they knew nobody was gunning for that position.”
The server arrived at our table with the food.
“This looks delicious,” Wyndi said, moving her eyes from her plate of jerk chicken, dirty rice, and collard greens to make eye contact with the server. “Thank you.”
I glanced over at her, appreciating the fact that she thanked the server. “Where’d you grow up, Wyndi? I’m a Kentucky boy. I have a little accent. I don’t hear one on you.”
“Oh, I’m from here. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. My family’s originally from Kansas City, Kansas. My grandparents were high school sweethearts who married right after graduation. They relocated to Chicago when my granddad got hired on as a train driver for TrailTrack.” She chewed and swallowed some of her food. “You said your mother is a surgeon. What does your father do?”
“He’s CEO of the family’s company, Grand Aviation. You ever heard of it?”
She shook her head as I watched her lips wrap around the fork.Fuck!I thought. She had the prettiest lips.
“It’s uh,” I stammered. “It’s an, uh.” I shook my head a bit to clear it of the sexual thoughts now marauding through it. “Yo, it’s a private jet company.”
Her eyes were like saucers. “A private jet company? Your father’s family owns a private jet company, and your mother is a surgeon?” Before I could respond, she spoke again. “I’m with your parents. Why in the hell are you playing a sport for a living that could give you brain damage when you don’t have to?”
“I love it.” I gave her a grin accompanied by a shrug.
“You must, because that’s crazy.” She took another bite of food, chewed, and swallowed. “Do you have any siblings, or were all of your parents’ hopes and dreams riding on your shoulders?”
“I have two younger sisters, two nieces, and two nephews. Grand Aviation will survive. You have any siblings?”
“I’m my mother’s only child. She tried to duplicate her parents’ success by marrying young. She didn’t vet him properly, though. They got married less than a year after they met. My daddy turned out to be a rapscallion.” She snickered after she said that. “I don’t mean to laugh. It’s not funny that my parents’ marriage crashed and burned. It’s just funny to me that my grandfather never uses my father’s name. He always refers to him asthat rapscallion motherfucker your mother married. I don’t know how they’re raising them in Kansas City, Kansas, but my grandfather has always been a little ratchet. A little rough around the edges. My mother says that even when I was a baby, my grandfather used to coo at me and tell me in baby talk that my daddy was a no-good nigga. Who tells a baby that in baby talk?”
I laughed aloud. “I need to meet your grandfather. He sounds like my kinda people. What’d your dad do to make your grandfather hate him so much?”
She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “He had a whole other family on the West Side of the city.”
“Whoa.”
“Yeah. He worked at a factory, and he got hurt there one day. They rushed him to the hospital. My mother showed up, all big and pregnant with me. The other woman was already there. She worked at the same factory, so she had the inside scoop.”
“Damn.” I let out a low whistle.
“Like I said, rapscallion. Anyway, my father has several children, so, technically, I’m not an only child.”
“Did you ever spend time around him or your siblings?”
“Sparingly.” She didn’t elaborate. I didn’t press.
Our conversation continued, moving easily from one topic to the next. As we wrapped up our time together, I told her what was on my mind. “From the few times we’ve interacted before today, and seeing you on social media, I thought you would be the shit. But actually getting to sit down with you, and spend some time? You’re definitely who I thought you would be and more.”
The fact that she blushed deeply was cute as hell to me. I liked how her heart was pure and that a compliment could make her cheeks burn pink.
“Thanks. You’re pretty much who I thought you’d be, too.”
“And who was that?”
“Somebody kind.”
I nodded slowly. “I know I’m making a big ask with this weekend trip for homecoming?—”
She cut me off before I could finish. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I will actually consider going, Kaynaan. I’m gonna take my time and weigh the situation. I’m thirty-two. I kinda feel like the way I moved with Preston wasn’t representative of my age and my level of maturity. I don’t know, I?—”
