He followed me back home to Philadelphia and to South Carolina then Dallas. If I made the move to Colton, I was sure he would make his way here too. That’s the reason I stayed away for so long. Now, I didn’t care. Let him come. We had the best protection and I should’ve listened to my sister a long time ago when she tried helping.
Now I was sitting here mad at myself for being mad over a scratch. I truly needed to take a serious ass chill pill.
“Alright, fine. You’ve made your point, but I’m still upset.”
“Okay, so maybe you don’t need to ride any horses right now. They’ll feed off your energy and it’ll be a miserable attempt. So let’s go to the orphanage and kick it with the kiddies for a bit. You cool with that?”
“Heck yeah. What are we cooking for them?”
“I already did that this morning and dropped it off so they can have a good dinner. Ma wanted to meet them too since I talk about them so much. So maybe this can stay a girl’s day and we can deal with the men tonight. How’s that?”
“I promised Armond we’d do dinner.”
“And you still can. I’ll have him pick you up from there. How does that sound?”
“Uh, no. I’d have to change and all that first. He ain’t no McDonald’s kind of man.”
“Okay, so take a damn outfit with you. Girl, you doing too much,” she snapped.
“I mean, maybe, but can’t you see why? I didn’t expect to see him and now he’s here and just…”
“You missed him, but you are beside yourself. Let’s go see the kids then maybe you’ll be a little more chill. They’re a good bunch. Ooh, and you can see the changes Lando and Armond made to the facility!”
She grew excited so I knew they did their big thing on it. I loved the dedication my sister had to the kids. No matter where we lived, she always found a way to give back and make a true impact on their lives. It was something special to watch and food always brought people together.
TWENTY-TWO
Brandy Noel
AS WE PULLED UP TOInnocent Hearts, my heart was full. The building had been renovated from the looks of it: fresh paint, a new sign, new fence, and a playground. It looked nice. I didn’t ever remember seeing a facility with a playground. That had Armond’s name all over it. Chardonnay let it be known that there was nothing wrong with the facility originally, but it was always nice to make changes and additions to make the kids feel seen. I couldn’t agree more.
The second we walked into the building after getting buzzed in, we were greeted by a kid walking by with a juice box. He had to be about twelve years old and the second his eyes landed on us, his posture changed and a huge smile spread across his face.
“Miss Nay! What you doing up here?” he said as he walked up to us and went for a hug. She gladly welcomed him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. I could see it now that this was her favorite kid.
“Now you know I had to pull up and see about my kids. How’ve you been, Jeremiah?”
“You know I’m good, Miss Nay. And who is this? You been holding out on me?” he said as he looked my way.
He put on a winning smile and I couldn’t help but chuckle. I smiled and extended my arms for a hug. He rushed over to me so quickly I couldn’t help but laugh at him. He was a tall kid, towering over me already. He had a cinnamon complexion with a curly fro most girls would beg for and dark brown eyes with long lashes. He was a charmer. I could see it already.
“I’m her little sis. Nice to meet you, Jeremiah. Brandy.”
“You smell good, Miss Brandy.”
I laughed and pulled away from him. “Thanks. Can’t be stinking up the place, you know.”
“Yeah, I feel that. Well, Miss Nay, you bring any of those cookies? These fools took ’em all before I could grab one last time,” he pouted.
“You know I got you. Here,” she said, pulling a Ziploc bag from her purse with a half dozen chocolate chip cookies our mother just made. She opted to stay home and soak in the jacuzzi with her bottle of wine.
The smile that grew on Jeremiah’s face made my heart leap. He was so happy. He quickly gave us both hugs before running off to his room. I noticed a petite older lady walking over to us.
“You really must stop spoiling him so much, Chardonnay. He’s gonna act a fool every time someone else comes in here trying to do something good,” she said as she approached us.
“You know I can’t help it, Mrs. Darby. That’s gonna be my kid one day, if nobody snatches him up,” Chardonnay replied.
That caught my attention because she hadn't mentioned it before during her visits. It’d been a year. But hey, since it wasn’t happening yet, I guess I couldn’t be mad at it.
