“Damn,” he grinned as he handed me the flowers. I folded my arms, pretending his stare hadn’t just made my entire body warm. I grabbed the flowers and inhaled them.
“What?” I asked him, pretending to be annoyed when I was really bubbling over inside like a boiling pot with a lid on it.
He shook his head and whistled low, “You got legs for days baby.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes at him as he walked over and pulled my chair out. I sat down and placed the flowers next to me.
“So, that’s it? No, you look beautiful tonight. Just you got legs for days baby.” I mocked him, causing him to laugh aloud.
“You look absolutely stunning Brick. You look as beautiful as I imagined you would look outside of your work clothes. It’s going to be difficult for me to keep my hands to myself, but I’m a gentleman and you are a lady. I’m sorry you look beautiful. The legs thing was an intrinsic thought that just slipped past my lips,” he smirked. I wanted to tell him that I knew I was a lady, but he didn’t have to be a gentleman. Tonight, I didn’t want to be respected I wanted him to pin me against the wall and fuck me like a fatherless slut who had low self-esteem. Unlike him I kept my intrinsic thought to myself.
Instead, I simply said, “Thank you, you clean up good yourself.”
“I took the liberty of ordering a drink for you if that’s ok. I told the waiter to bring the drinks as soon as you arrived,” he shrugged.
I instantly got annoyed because how did he know what I wanted to drink? I began to rethink the whole letting a nigga take control thing.
“I can see the wheels turning in your head. I only ordered for you because I know that you have a million decisions to make. When you are with me, I want you to know that you are safe enough to let your guard down and not have to make decisions. I figured an apple martini is a pretty universal drink, and you would approve of that. Was I wrong?” he questioned.
I rolled my eyes because he in fact was not wrong and a martini was exactly what I was going to order. He was too good at this and that only annoyed me even further.
“You weren’t wrong and I appreciate you,” I smiled at him. It was impossible to stay mad at him when his intentions were so pure. The waiter arrived less than two seconds later with our drinks. After putting in for appetizers, I asked him something I had been wondering about since the day I met him.
“So, what made you start juicing?” I asked as I sipped my martini.
The smile he was wearing faded slowly like the sun being replaced by the moon.
“My wife made me start juicing. She was a dietitian and she was passionate about healing people through vegetables. She loved farming, growing her own vegetables, and she taught me everything I know about vegetables and fresh produce.” His jaw tightened as he took a mental trip down memory lane. His body was still sitting across from me, but I could tell his mind had travelled a million miles away. The air changed and I chokedon my drink. I looked down at his hand, and there was no ring there.
“You’re married? And you are out on a date? I don’t fuck married men; I don’t play with the Lord’s covenant.” I placed my hand up to signal for a waiter so I could get the check. He had me all the way fucked up. There was enough single dick in the world to bounce on that I didn’t have to fuck someone else’s husband. If he had told me that initially, we wouldn’t be sitting here. I knew that his ass was too good to be true.
“Put your hand down, I was married and I am no longer married. I am a widow,” he said through gritted teeth causing me to slide my hand down in embarrassment.
“Oh.” I looked away shyly and choked slightly on my drink.
“You so ready to dismiss a nigga,” he chuckled as he shook his head.
“I was married for ten years, and I lost my wife two years ago,” he told me solemnly.
I didn’t know why that surprised me. Maybe because he seemed too young to have been married for such a long time.
“What happened to her? If you don’t mind me asking,” I asked sadly as I looked down at my hands. He looked out at the city and took a deep breath.
“She was pregnant, and there were some complications during labor,” his voice became softer and I felt my stomach tighten.
“I lost both my wife and my baby girl at the same time. That is the type of hurt I wouldn’t wish on anyone. For nine months we were excited. Nesting, built a nursery, started a college fund, bought clothes and diapers, and everything for our baby girl. She had a shower a week before she went into laborand all of her family and friends came out, some of whom she hadn’t seen in years. You never know when it’s going to be the last time you see someone,” he whispered.
I stopped breathing and it felt like the restaurant disappeared around me and I was mentally thrust into the delivery room with him, and his wife. There was no noise, no skyline, no people, just a delivery room filled with doctors, nurses, machines, and chaos.
“My daughter came out breathing for a few seconds then she flat lined. My wife had a heart attack on the delivery table from hemorrhaging blood. I stayed in Mississippi one year after that, but I couldn’t continue to live in that house with those memories. Every time I walked past the nursery I broke down. I couldn’t drive down those same roads she and I had so many memories on. I couldn’t go to the same grocery store. Everything reminded me of my wife and the baby girl I never got a chance to hold.” His eyes found mine. I didn’t know what to say.
“I came here, to Atlanta, to start over,” he smiled at me.
I looked down, as sadness filled me. “I’m so sorry,” I told him.
“It took a lot of therapy and healing to be able to talk about it. I’m better than I was,” he told me honestly.
“My wife loved fresh juice,” he smiled. “She used to make me drink all kinds of nasty stuff. She always said food heals people. I couldn’t save her or my daughter, but maybe I can help other people. I learned that people like things that taste good and they would rather gorge unhealthy shit because of the taste instead of consuming medicine through food and drinks, so I learned how to make recipes that actually taste good to you and are good for you at the same time,” he smiled.
