She was a person.
With big feelings.
Limited information on how to navigate hard shit.
Didn’t always make the right decisions.
But still… she did the best she could with what she had.
And even though the past is dead and buried and there’s nothing she can do to change it, she does have the present. That’s what I wanted to remind Poppa Hill of.
“Pops…he knows you love him. And if you wanna make your son feel special on his birthday from this day forward, starttoday. You know he adores you. I don’t think you’re ever too old to receive love from your parents on your birthday… And I think he’d like that a lot.”
Poppa Hill’s eyes got glassy, but he didn’t let a tear fall. “You right, daughter…You right.” He shuffled away after that, and Chewy stared at me again.
“What?”
“Love looks good on you, Rei. Not just for yo nigga, but for his family too.”
I beamed.
Yeah, love did look good on me.
THE NEXT DAY
“Hayami…Why am I blindfolded if I already know you planned me a birthday party?”
“Because you’ve never had a birthday party planned by your wife.”
He grinned. “My wife, huh? I like the sound of that.”
My stomach knotted up but not in a bad way… Vasiah had just been hinting at marriage talk a lot lately, and I…loved the sound of that. I caught myself daydreaming about his proposal and made a Pinterest board for wedding ideas. If I wasn’t a goner before, I surely was one now. We were both actively in therapy,learning more and more about each other, and really getting in tune. I felt like Vasiah was my soul mate.
Kind.
Caring.
Generous.
Grounded.
Tailor-made just for me.
I couldn’t believe that I felt all these things for aman,but day by day, I was leaning more and more into it. I wasn’t a perfect girlfriend by any means, but I was turning out to be a good one. He told me so every day.
“I just bet you do,” I quipped, pulling on his dad’s block. Vasiah was blind folded for the entire car ride, and I couldn’t wait to see his face. Hand in hand, I guided him to the backyard, and on the count of three, I took off his blind fold.
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY, VASIAH!” Everyone yelled. He almost looked bashful as he took everything in. Next, he leaned down and kissed me deeply.
Muah.“You such a good woman, Hayami. Thank you.”
“You really like it? It’s not too much?”
“I love it…I never imagined something like this happening to me. This is cool as hell. The perfect amount. Nothing you do is ever too much for me.”
My eyes watered.
Reassurance.
